Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Vegas stared down at the document in his hands, willing it with every fiber of his being to be some sort of hallucination born of misplaced grief and exhaustion. But no matter how many times he blinked or wiped at his eyes, the words on the page remained the same.

His father had been known for his cruelty, sure, but this was just absurd.

News of Lord Gun Theerapanyakul’s death had been met with celebration throughout the region he’d ruled over with an iron fist. The man had cared little for the common folk he’d been charged to protect. He cared only for those of comparable social status and wealth, and what they could do for him. As such, the ascension of his son and heir, the Alpha Vegas Kornwit Theerapanyakul, was met with trepidation from both commoners and elite alike. No one was quite sure what to expect from the young man’s rule.

Vegas had spent his life watching his father ruin their name and legacy by being a capricious leader. He’d spent the first month after the man’s death undoing laws and decrees that served no one but his own special interests. The wealthy had been allowed to forgo paying their fair share of taxes to the realm’s treasury in lieu of a bribe that went directly into Gun’s already bursting coffers. That had been the first to go and it hadn’t bought Vegas any allies. He didn’t care. Vegas knew that the minor family’s region could be just as prosperous as the neighboring lands governed by his cousin, it just needed a leader unafraid of making enemies for the greater good.

He used the back taxes paid by the wealthy classes to build more temples throughout the region. The monks were charged with educating the children of each village regardless of social class or secondary gender. Vegas needed all of his people at their best if he was going to transform the tumultuous world he grew up in into something better for everyone.

It wasn’t until his brother had mentioned that he’d been making all of his governmental changes from the office space next to his chambers that he realized he’d never officially moved into the Lord’s living quarters of the palace. At the time of his father’s death, the man’s spectre had loomed over that entire area of the palace like a dark cloud of disappointment as Vegas worked tirelessly to undo the damage wrought by his reign. What office he governed from hardly seemed to matter so long as he got things accomplished. But Macau, always with an ear for palace gossip that could help them, had insisted that it would be better for their image if Vegas were to use the correct living quarters for his position.

So they’d gotten to work cleaning out his father’s belongings. Vegas didn’t want anything of his father’s presence to remain. If he could have scrubbed the man from his memory, he would have. This cleaning had led to the discovery of old documents that had evidently never been meant to see the light of day. Documents that Vegas immediately wished he’d never laid eyes on.

“Macau! Get in here!”

Vegas sat down on the edge of the large desk that dominated the room. It was too ostentatious to be for anything other than show. Gods knew image had been everything to his father.

“Hia, what’s wrong?” Macau stopped two steps into the office and wrinkled his nose. “Why do you smell angry? What did you find?”

Vegas held the paper out to the young alpha for him to see. Macau mumbled to himself as he read for a few seconds before his eyes suddenly went wide.

“Betrothed! Hia, you’re betrothed ?”

Vegas sighed as Macau laid the paper, the betrothal contract, on the desk beside him.

“It would appear I’ve been betrothed since I was thirteen. If the date is anything to go by, it looks like it was just after I presented as an alpha.” He pointed at the other name on the contract. “Have you ever heard of this Saengtham family?”

Part of both his and Macau’s education was knowing all of the ruling and prominent families of the lands. Vegas had never heard of the family his intended seemed to come from.

“Never,” Macau shook his head. “But look at this. It says here that Father agreed to pay a yearly stipend to the Saengtham family to ensure the health and safety of the omega Phongsakorn Saengtham until such time as an official mating or marriage ceremony could take place.” When Vegas didn’t seem to follow his brother’s line of thought, Macau rolled his eyes. “We have all of Father’s financial records, even the ones he kept hidden. If our family had been paying a brideprice all these years, we would have noticed when we went through everything. It doesn’t look like anything was paid past the initial stipend at the onset of the contract.”

As Vegas read over the contract once again, his brother’s words rang true.

“So not only did our father sign a betrothal contract in my stead without my knowledge, it also looks like he reneged on said contract as well. And why hasn’t this family ever pressed the issue? Or maybe they did and Father just had them executed in one of his moods.”

Macau made a noise of agreement and then gave a resigned sigh.

“Hia, you know as well as I do that Father rarely did anything that wouldn’t benefit him in some way. I’m not sure how secretly plotting to marry you off and then apparently backing out on that plot would have benefitted him but, I don’t trust it.”

“I don’t trust it either,” Vegas confirmed. Not only did he have no plans to find a mate anytime soon considering how much work he still had to do with fixing the mess he’d inherited, he certainly didn’t trust the likes of a mate chosen for him by that same man. That made his decision quite easy. “Macau, the contract needs to be dissolved. I need you to find this Saengtham family and do whatever you have to do to get them to agree. You have my full authority as my heir and second-in-command. The dissolution of this contract is your only priority right now. Okay?”

Macau gave a stiff nod before lowering his body into a respectful bow.

“I understand, Hia. I won’t let you down.”

Finding the Saengtham family had been far easier than Macau had anticipated. After inquiring around the markets surrounding the palace walls, he’d gotten a possible lead to take his search to the north of their region. The name had been familiar to some of the aunties selling various fabrics and textiles but not enough to give him a more precise location. The weavers at the province’s northern edge were renowned for their skills so it would be a good place to start and only a day’s ride away.

When he’d arrived in the village, it became obvious that the Saengtham family, though not particularly prominent in name, were well loved by their fellow villagers. Macau’s queries into the family had initially been met with hesitant curiosity at best and somewhat hostile unhelpfulness at worst.

It was only when Macau made it clear that he was there on official business that he was pointed in the direction of a traditional stilt house at the village’s edge. The home was well-kept but small. If it was in fact the residence of the family he was looking for, they clearly could have benefitted from yearly stipends from the Theerapanyakul family.

As Macau got closer, he saw a man seated at a large loom on the ground beneath the home. The scent carried on the wind revealed the man’s omega status but Macau was far more curious over the fact that the scent was so familiar.

He knew he’d never met the man before so why was his scent familiar?

As the omega turned in his seat at Macau’s approach, the reason hit him.

His brother’s natural scent was smokey with notes of citrus lingering underneath, like a campfire built from the wood of an orange tree. The omega in front of him had a scent that was the inverse. The top notes were bright citrus, like mangosteens and oranges, while the bottom notes held depth, like spices toasted over an open flame.

Something in his gut told him that he’d found Phongsakorn Saengtham.

“My Lord,” the omega smiled politely with a bow. “To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”

The man’s words put Macau on edge instantly. He knew that he’d never been to this village before. How did this man know who he was?

“You know who I am,” Macau stated imperiously, trying to let his voice fill with the authority bestowed on him by his brother. The omega’s smile turned somewhat joking at that before he replied,

“It’s a small village. Word travels fast. And when the Lord Alpha’s young brother comes asking questions about my family, it travels even faster. Forgive me, Lord Macau, but you’re not exactly discreet.”

Macau immediately admired the man for his backbone in the face of an authority figure, especially one of the ruling class. But admiration or not, he still had a job to do.

“Your family? So that means you’re a member of the Saengtham family then. I’m looking for the family head, Eakphol Saengtham, regarding his omega child Phongsakorn.”

The omega’s good-natured smile melted faster than anything Macau had ever seen in his life at the mention of the name, the name next to his father’s on the betrothal contract in his bag.

“The Saengtham family head is Yaai Ratsami,” the man spoke, voice gone cold. “Eakphol died over ten years ago. And good riddance to him.” The vitriol in his tone almost made Macau want to laugh. Terrible fathers were universal it seemed.

“I take it you’re Phongsakorn then?”

“You can call me Pete,” the omega affirmed with a nod of his head. “What trouble has my father gotten us into from beyond the grave now? And how does it concern me?”

Macau started to reach into his bag for the contract before he realized they were out in the open and thought better of it.

“You mentioned your family head. Is there somewhere we could meet with her privately? This is a somewhat delicate matter.”

Pete’s eyes cut upstairs in a flash before he crossed his arms.

“Yaai is too sick for visitors right now. I’d rather not cause further stress for her condition. Besides, you said the matter concerns me. I’m fully capable of making decisions regarding myself.”

“With all due respect,” Macau started, a placating tone leaking into his words without his permission, “I’m here on behalf of my brother, the head of my family, to speak with the head of yours. I promise I’ll do my best to not put any undue strain on her condition.”

Pete pursed his lips, clearly not liking that Macau was insisting on speaking with Ratsami. After a few tense moments passed, Pete finally gave a resigned sigh.

“Alright but you need to make it quick. Without Yaai weaving with me, it’s been hard to keep up our usual production demands and take care of her at the same time. I really don’t have time for this.”

He turned and started up the steps to the home’s entrance, leaving Macau behind to follow on his own.

“You’re taking care of her on your own? What about the rest of your family?”

In front of him, Pete snorted with derision.

“I don’t know how old your information on us is but there’s only Yaai and me. My father left me with her shortly after I presented as an omega. Said I was his biggest disappointment.” As the words left his mouth, he scoffed and turned to face Macau. “Like I chose my secondary gender just to anger him or something. Anyway, Yaai raised me. A few months after he left me here, we found out he’d died in a fight over his gambling debts. Luckily, whatever he had on him had been enough that his debtors never came after us.”

Macau absorbed Pete’s story, connecting dots as he went. Given the timing of the man’s death, it was likely that he’d taken the first stipend given to him by Gun and immediately gambled it away. That would explain why there had been no further payments to the Saengtham family. The remaining members of the family hadn’t known about it in the first place.

Was it possible that Pete’s father had only sold his son’s hand in marriage for a quick and easy windfall and died before he could claim what else they were owed?

The money, if it had been used for its intended purpose, would have definitely helped Pete and his family through the years. They wouldn’t have had to work to provide for themselves. The stipends would have taken care of that. But, considering that Pete’s father had almost certainly never told anyone of the betrothal contract he’d signed, there was a significant chance that he would have continued taking the stipends for himself and the family never would have seen a single pod duang at all.

For the first time since finding the contract, Macau felt guilty on behalf of his family. Obviously, when Pete’s father never showed up demanding another stipend in the years following the secret betrothal between their sons, Gun had simply failed to do any due diligence in attempting to find and take care of the omega he’d essentially bought for his heir.

He’d known for the majority of his life that his father was a terrible man but this was ridiculous.

When Pete led Macau into the main room of the home he shared with his grandmother, Macau instantly recognized the cloying smell of sickness hanging around the elderly beta woman reclining in a nest on the floor.

Betas didn’t make nests though. Pete must have made it for her in an effort to give her some level of comfort.

“Pete, did you finish that bolt already? You’ve gotten so fast now sweetheart.” Her praise ended on a rattling cough that had Macau wincing in sympathy.

“Not yet Yaai, but almost. There’s someone here that wants to speak with you about something. This is Lord Macau, he’s the brother of–”

“Of young Lord Vegas,” Ratsami finished with a soft smile. “I’m aware of who leads the province, dear child. I must apologize, Lord Macau, for my appearance. I’ve been afflicted with an ague that has taken my strength for the time being. My dear grandson does his best but medicines are hard to come by in our little village.” When she started coughing again, Pete brought a steaming bowl of herbal broth to her lips and bid her to take a sip. He looked up at Macau as if to say ‘ see, she’s too sick for your nonsense ’.

Macau cleared his throat and knelt down. When he pulled the betrothal contract from his satchel, Pete’s eyes narrowed.

“I’m sorry for us to meet this way, Yaai Ratsami, but this is a matter of utmost importance to my brother and our family. In cleaning out my late father’s belongings, we came across this. It appears to have been between him and your son, Eakphol. My father and your son contracted a betrothal between my brother Vegas and your grandson Pete. As the contract was made without the knowledge of the parties involved, my brother wishes to have it dissolved.”

Reflexes like lightning, Pete snatched the contract from his grandmother’s hands and began reading through it. No wonder his father had disappeared from their lives after abandoning his responsibilities to their family. He’d figured out a way to use Pete’s status as an omega for his own financial gain and dipped. Pete wondered how many years he would have collected stipends from the Theerapanyakul family before the time came for Lord Vegas to claim his mate.

But, if Macau was to be believed, the young lord had no intention of doing that at all.

Pete surreptitiously sniffed at the air. His nose had become attuned at a very young age to the specific anxiety-induced pheromone people involuntarily released whenever they were being dishonest. It had been like a cloud around his father at all times, practically every word that dripped from the man’s mouth was either a half-truth or an outright fabrication.

The pheromone wasn’t present in the scent of the young heir. He was telling the truth.

Still, something about the whole situation didn’t sit right with Pete.

“Did my father collect the decade’s worth of stipends up front? Or just the initial first year?”

“From what we can tell in our financial records, only the first year’s stipend was ever paid out. Given what you told me of your father’s death, it’s likely he passed shortly after signing the contract and never claimed further payment. If your family agrees to the betrothal’s dissolution, the Theerapanyakul family is prepared to pay all of the uncollected stipends you’re rightly owed in order to make this right. On behalf of my brother and our family, we sincerely apologize for the actions of our deceased father.”

Pete looked at his grandmother, at her usually strong body brought low by sickness. The money would certainly help get her seen to by a more capable healer than what their village had to offer. But, because of her illness, she was in no shape to travel anywhere. That meant a healer would need to come to them.

Surely the palace healers would be some of the best in the region, right? A plan formed in his mind. He only hoped the Theerapanyakuls would take him up on it.

“Mine and Lord Vegas’ betrothal was arranged without our knowledge or consent,” Pete said as he refolded the contract and handed it back to the young man. “Without the two of us even meeting. Regardless of the money, I don’t feel comfortable dissolving it while that remains true.”

Macau’s brow furrowed.

“What are you saying?”

“Your palace has skilled healers. Yaai needs one of those but she’s in no state to travel. Tell your brother that if he comes here himself, and brings a palace healer to see to Yaai, we will agree to the dissolution of the betrothal made on his and my behalf. Once Yaai is healthy again, I’ll sign whatever you need me to sign and we’ll both be free of our fathers’ lapses in judgement.”

Macau felt that same sense of admiration for Pete that he’d felt outside. Pete could hold his own without any issues. It was almost unfortunate that his entire purpose for being in their home was to end the betrothal between Pete and his brother. As Vegas’ mate, Pete would make an incredibly valuable addition to their family. He was almost positive that Vegas himself would even agree if he met Pete.

And since that was what Pete was asking for anyway, Macau couldn’t help grinning as he agreed to Pete’s terms.

If nothing else, Vegas’ betrothed essentially commanding him to travel across the region would certainly prove to be interesting.

Chapter Text

Pete took a deep breath as the sun rose over the horizon. He hadn’t slept soundly in days and he knew he probably looked like it. It was hard to care. Yaai would wake periodically with coughing fits that sapped any strength she might have been able to garner from what little rest she’d managed to achieve. Taking care of her took precedence over whether or not he managed to get the bolt of fabric on the loom downstairs finished. They wove as a team and without her, Pete just couldn’t bring himself to do it.

He was truly hanging his hopes that the young alpha would arrive with a palace healer soon.

The reminder of the reason a palace healer would even be coming in the first place made Pete roll his eyes. It wasn’t necessarily unbelievable that Eakphol had sold his son’s hand in marriage; if anyone was going to find a way to benefit from someone else’s status, it would have been him. What was surprising to Pete was that the man had managed to sell his troth to the Lord Alpha of the region sight unseen! It wasn’t as though Lord Gun was known for making the best decisions when it came to governing but surely he would have demanded to inspect an intended mate for his heir, right?

The whole thing made Pete’s head hurt. But, if dangling the contract dissolution over the head of the current Lord Alpha got Yaai the healing care she so desperately needed, he was willing to do it.

Shortly after the young Lord Macau left to fetch his brother, Pete wondered if he’d truly lost his mind. What was to stop the men from coming back and forcing him to sign whatever they wanted without providing a healer at all?

But Pete trusted his instincts. Even without having met the elder alpha, his brother was honest and true. Surely Vegas could be trusted the same as Macau.

Just thinking the man’s name brought a small shiver up his spine, like his body was reacting to a physical touch.

“Phi! P’Pete! P’Pete! They’re here again, the lord came back!”

Pete looked towards the tiny voice to see one of the village children running towards the house he shared with his grandmother. The girl, Bunn, was a tiny little thing known for getting into mischief. She often used her size to her advantage, stowing herself away in spots other children her age couldn’t get into and listening to the adults talk. Bunn always brought Pete all the village gossip whether he asked for it or not.

“Nong Bunn, please be a little quieter. Yaai is sleeping.”

The child immediately clasped her hands over her mouth as Pete walked down the steps to meet her on the ground.

“I’m sorry phi,” she whispered as he lifted her into his arms. “Is Yaai gonna get better soon?”

Pete looked in the direction of the village entrance and sighed. “I hope so. Did you see how many people were with the lord?”

Bunn nodded her head solemnly and began counting on her fingers.

“Five riders. Two guards in front, the two lords in the middle, one man at the back of the party.” After a second, Bunn smiled brightly. “Lord Macau waved at me. I bet he remembered me from when he was here last time.” Pete couldn’t help smiling at the child.

“I bet he did. You’re very memorable, nong. Thank you for letting me know when they returned. Now, run back home before your papa and mama worry about you.”

Bunn scampered off in the direction of her family’s home just as the lords’ riding party arrived. Just as Bunn had reported, two guards rode up first. Pete stood firm at the bottom of the steps. The expressions on both of their faces were carefully neutral, almost passive. Before Pete got the chance to examine them further, their horses stepped to the side to allow space for the two young lords to appear between them.

Pete recognized Macau immediately, he’d seen him not two days past. The young man looked quite pleased with himself as he dismounted.

“P’Pete, I present my brother, Lord Vegas Kornwit Theerapanyakul, your betrothed mate.”

Pete fought the urge to roll his eyes at the obvious joke.

“ Temporary mate,” he corrected him. “As soon as Yaai is healthy again, we won’t have to worry about all that. I trust you brought a skilled healer to attend her?”

Macau chuckled and nodded his head towards the man at the back of their party.

“Arm is our family’s personal healer. There’s none better in the entire province. Isn’t that right, hia?”

When Macau addressed his brother, the man shook his head like he’d been caught in a trance. Pete eyed him warily. He’d expected the Lord Alpha to be a bit more talkative but he hadn’t said a word since their horses had come to a stop.

As Vegas dismounted, Pete caught his scent. Tiny shivers raced along his skin once again.

“My Lord,” Pete politely bowed his head in acknowledgement of the man. He hadn’t expected him to be quite so young, or attractive.

Vegas’ nostrils flared as Pete’s scent inundated his senses.

When Macau returned with the news that he’d found the omega their father had ‘purchased’ for him, Vegas had expected his brother to also show him the signature that would free them from any entanglements set forth by the failed patriarch. But Macau had quickly regaled him with a tale of a stubborn, headstrong omega who was fiercely protective of his tiny family. An omega that refused to cut the ties that bound them until that tiny family was taken care of. An omega who would make a perfect mate to rule at the side of a Theerapanyakul.

Even though Vegas had rolled his eyes at his brother, he’d still agreed to meet with the man under his conditions. Vegas had been intrigued, to say the least.

As soon as he’d set eyes on the man, it became clear that Macau had left out more than a few details about the omega. There was a wariness in his gaze, as though he wasn’t quite sure what to make of the men in his midst. But, alongside that wariness, Vegas could see a flinty determination. This omega was not one to be toyed with. Though his face appeared soft and gentle, his physique belied that gentleness. He carried himself with the same type of self-assured caution Vegas was accustomed to seeing in the palace guards, like he knew exactly what he was capable of but didn’t want to make it obvious.

And he was beautiful.

So beautiful.

Vegas had to bite back the feral instinct to claim as he looked upon the other man. The light citrus notes at the top of Pete’s scent called to him like the song of a long lost homeland.

“Lord Vegas? Are you okay?”

The question from his head guard, Nop, made him belatedly realize he’d been openly staring at the omega.

Vegas quickly nodded at the man and then turned back to his betrothed.

“It’s a shame we couldn’t have met under better circumstances.” At Vegas’ words, Pete snorted a laugh.

“You mean it’s a shame that our fathers kept our betrothal a secret and now we’re left to clean up their mess? But I’m not exactly sure what other possible circumstances could have aligned for us to meet any other way.” Vegas had to agree with the sentiment but he found his ire for his father’s shady machinations dwindling, at least where it concerned their specific situation. “Forgive me for skipping further pleasantries, Lord Vegas, but I fear Yaai’s condition has worsened overnight. If you would permit your healer to attend to her as soon as possible, I would be eternally grateful to you.”

“Of course,” Vegas waved Arm forward, “Arm is at your disposal immediately.”

The bespectacled man with floppy hair stepped up beside him, his apothecary bag high on his shoulder.

“Khun Pete, if you would bring me to the patient so I may conduct an examination of her condition, I can determine a proper treatment plan to ensure a full recovery.”

Vegas watched as Pete led the healer up the steps and into his home. He continued staring long after the two men had disappeared into the small house. It wasn’t until Macau gracelessly plopped his arm on his shoulder that Vegas shook himself of the spell he’d fallen under.

“I’m waiting,” the younger man said with a smug tone. Vegas arched an eyebrow at his brother in response.

“Waiting for what?”

“For you to admit I was right. P’Pete is perfect for you. You haven’t been able to keep your eyes off of him since we dismounted. For all our father’s faults, he might have accidentally done something right for once.”

Vegas rolled his eyes and shook Macau’s hold from his shoulder. It didn’t matter how attracted he was to Pete, or how intriguing he found Pete to be, or how beautiful he found him, or anything at all! None of that mattered. Vegas had no intention of taking a mate so early in his reign. He still had unruly elites to deal with in addition to proving to the various leaders in his province that he could and would be a better ruler than his father had ever been. A mate just wasn’t in the stars for him.

“Did the journey cause your memory to lag? The only reason we’re here is to make this betrothal nonsense disappear. As soon as Arm is able to heal that man’s grandmother, we’ll be back at the palace and this village, and its inhabitants, will be a distant memory. You would do well to keep that in mind.”

Macau’s features somehow managed to get more self-satisfied at Vegas’ reprimand.

“Whatever you say, my dear hia. But you would do well to remember the direction the wind is blowing when you look at P’Pete. I’ve known your scent my entire life, and the changes your emotions cause to it. Try as you might, you can’t hide from me.”

Vegas found himself at a loss for words as his brother started up the stairs leading to his betrothed’s home. Such a cheeky young man. Vegas would have liked to believe that he’d raised him better than that but unfortunately, his attitude was the exact product of the raising he’d received. He truly had no one but himself to blame.

With a resigned sigh, Vegas turned to his guards.

“Ken, see if you can have the horses boarded at the stable we saw on our way into the village. We won’t be needing them until we leave. Then see if the inn has lodging for us. Money is no object. Nop, you’re with me.”

His head guard fell into step behind him, leaving the other guard to get their belongings and horses tended to. Ken was always eager to prove himself, a little too eager if you asked Vegas. But he got the job done and that was what Vegas expected of the guards charged with protecting his family.

Vegas directed Nop to take up position at the entrance of the home. He was hardly going to be in much danger within.

As soon as he entered the home, Macau thrust a damp cloth into his hand. Arm was busy stirring the contents of a small pot over a fire, telling Pete about each ingredient as he added it to the concoction. Their eyes met for a split second before he returned his attention to the healer and his medicinal ingredients.

“Hia, this is Khun Yaai Ratsami, head of the Saengtham family. Khun Yaai, my brother, Lord Vegas Theerapanyakul.”

Vegas’ heart clenched as Macau had him kneel down beside the elderly woman’s pallet nest. She looked so frail, pale and sickly as she was, but her eyes were somehow still bright and sparkling with life. It was obvious she was a fighter, a trait she’d certainly passed down to her grandson.

“Please dear boy, just Yaai is fine.”

The familiarity in her tone made Vegas smile. It was as though she were talking to her own grandchild instead of the heir to the ruler of the province. It reminded him of the palace kitchen aunties who had cared for him in his youth. Irreverent but tender.

Vegas reached out to place the cloth on her forehead but she caught his hand halfway there.

“Let me get a good look at my grandson’s future mate,” she said, voice hoarse but eyes crystal clear. Beside him, Macau snickered. Vegas just cleared his throat.

“Khun Yaai, your grandson and I have no intention of continuing our betrothal. As soon as your health returns, we plan to take the necessary steps to formally end that contract.”

The woman made a harumph sound that only the elderly seemed to instinctively know how to make. It made Vegas want to laugh.

“Well then, perhaps my health doesn’t return for some time. I am just a feeble old woman after all. The healer boy you brought might be no match for my sickness. You might be here for a while. And who knows? Perhaps, in that time, two people could grow to care for one another.” Vegas started to chuckle at the woman’s obvious attempt at matchmaking, shaking his head. In response, Yaai’s grip on his wrist tightened. When his eyes met hers once again, they’d taken on a more determined set. “My son was a good-for-nothing drunkard who didn’t care for anyone or anything but himself and his next drink. I believe now, having met the two of you, that the only good thing he ever did was unintentionally tying yours and my grandson’s lives together. I will see my Pete taken care of, in this life. It’s the least the gods could do for me after they allowed his father free reign to ruin his childhood.”

Yaai slumped back then, somewhat weakened once more by the ferocity of her emotions. Her words reminded Vegas of what Macau had told him he’d learned of the Saengtham family upon his return to the palace. The man who’d signed Pete’s life away as a means to quickly make some money was dead. Macau had suspected that Pete’s father probably never intended for anyone to find out about the contract he’d signed, using his son’s omega status as a means to an end. It was clear that Yaai Ratsami cared deeply for her grandson and regretted not being able to keep him safe from her son’s wrath.

Were shitty fathers truly a universal truth?

“You’ll both be taken care of,” Vegas tried to reassure her. “We are prepared to pay the stipends your family is owed as soon as the contract is nullified. My father made a bad decision on my behalf and I want to make it right.” When the old woman rolled her eyes, Vegas couldn’t help noticing just how much she and her grandson resembled each other.

“ Pffth , we don’t care about money. Sure, it would have helped when Pete was younger but that’s hardly a concern now. My Pete deserves someone who will put him first and he’s far too stubborn to accept that fact. You could give him that.”

Vegas sighed.

“Respectfully, Khun Yaai, I don’t think I’m the person for that job. I have a province to govern, my father’s messes to clean up. Besides, don’t you think he deserves to be able to make the choice of his mate for himself? He doesn’t want this betrothal any more than I do. That’s why I’m here in the first place.”

Before the woman got the chance to reply, the floor creaked behind him as someone walked up. When he turned, Arm and Pete were standing there. Arm had a steaming bowl in his hands.

“Lord Vegas, if I could, I have Khun Yaai’s first treatment prepared.”

Vegas quickly got to his feet and let Arm replace him at the woman’s side. His nostrils flared involuntarily as he caught Pete’s scent yet again.

“Can I speak with you privately, Lord Vegas?” Pete’s voice was a gentle whisper but it made the blood rush in Vegas’ veins all the same.

He nodded and followed Pete outside. Nop made to follow them but Vegas quickly motioned for him to stay put. Pete wouldn’t bring him harm without cause. He knew that in his gut.

Downstairs, Pete made for the large loom sheltered beneath the house and sat at its bench. Vegas sat down beside him. Outside the confines of the small room, Pete’s scent wasn’t quite so pervasive. It still managed to linger in Vegas’ senses.

“I wanted to thank you for coming,” Pete started, somewhat tentative. “When I made the request of your brother–”

“The ultimatum, you mean,” Vegas interrupted, humor in his tone. Pete’s cheeks flushed with embarrassment in an instant. When he gave a sheepish smile in return, Vegas was caught off guard by the dimples on display.

“Okay yes, when I made my ultimatum , I was desperate for help for Yaai. Your brother seemed equally as desperate on your behalf. I took the opportunity presented to me.”

Vegas chuckled.

“I can’t really fault you for that. You care for your family. That’s an admirable quality. My brother is all the family I have left. I can’t say I wouldn’t have done the same if I’d been put in that position.”

Pete’s brows furrowed in confusion.

“What do you mean? Macau isn’t your only family. Lord Kinn of the neighboring province is your cousin.”

“Extended family ruling a neighboring province is hardly the same as a brother I helped to raise. I spent much of my childhood shielding Macau from our father’s attention. Our mother died giving birth to him so it was up to me to protect him. When our father finally died, it wasn’t exactly a great loss for us. It was more like a huge weight had been lifted from our shoulders. So yes, we have our cousins but it’s very much been the two of us for a long time. It’s why I made him my heir as soon as I ascended. If something were to happen to me, I wouldn’t trust anyone else with my mission of rebuilding this province from the ashes of our father’s poor leadership.”

Pete’s eyes went wide with surprise. He’d never expected such honesty from someone of the ruling class, let alone the actual ruler .

“I find the loyalty between the two of you to be quite admirable. It reminds me of me and Yaai.”

“Family is important to me,” Vegas agreed, “and for the time being, at least until we are no longer betrothed, we are family.” Pete blushed again and Vegas suddenly got the intense desire to see if he could make that blush deepen. “Upon meeting each other, Khun Yaai seems to think you and I are well matched.” Vegas was instantly rewarded with Pete’s cheeks darkening. His scent spiked, just the slightest change in the notes, but Vegas caught it all the same. It made him grin.

“Don’t tell me you’re taking the ramblings of a sick old woman to heart? The exhaustion from her ailment had caused her to vocalize her delusions.”

Vegas shrugged goodnaturedly.

“She seemed pretty lucid to me.”

Vegas didn’t miss the way Pete’s eyes strayed to his mouth before moving off to the distance.

“It doesn’t matter. As soon as Arm heals her, we’ll nullify our betrothal and probably never see each other again. It’s as you told her, you have a province to govern. And, I’m sure, no time for a mate you didn’t choose for yourself.”

Before Vegas could respond, a breeze fluttered by that had Pete’s body tensing. When he looked up, he could see his guard, Ken, making his way towards them. When he came to a stop in front of them, he bowed low to Vegas but made no indication he’d even taken note of Pete’s presence.

“My lord, the horses are stabled and I’ve secured lodging for your party at the village inn. Is there anything I can do for you?”

Vegas nodded in acknowledgement and waved the guard off.

“You can take your post with Nop upstairs for the time being.” Another bow and the man was gone. But beside him, Pete was still tense. “Pete? Is something wrong? Should I have Arm examine you as well while we’re here?”

His questions seemed to shake Pete back to himself.

“I’m fine, Lord Vegas. Although, I’m curious. How long have your guards been with you?”

“Nop has been my personal guard since I was thirteen. He’s saved my life countless times. He has a twin brother, Non, who is Macau’s personal guard. But we had to leave him behind at the palace due to an injury he sustained during training. And Ken was part of my father’s guard retinue before he passed. I chose him to come in Non’s place because he’s quite capable, if a little too keen to prove himself.”

Pete nodded along but cocked his head to the side at the mention of Ken.

“So he’s not one of your regular guards then. Is that wise, traveling with so few guards and one of them isn’t one you would normally use?”

Vegas wasn’t entirely sure what point Pete was trying to make but he just shook his head.

“Macau and I purposely wanted to keep this excursion out of the public eye as much as possible. Traveling with a full entourage would only draw unnecessary attention to the reason for this trip. Besides, the two of us are trained in combat and martial arts. We’re hardly defenseless on our own.”

Pete gave a nervous chuckle then.

“I didn’t mean to imply you couldn’t defend yourself. Just that it’s somewhat odd. I’m not used to the ruling class traveling in small groups. Whenever the elites pass through, they’re like a small moving village all to their own. But I guess discretion probably isn’t their top concern when they travel. In my experience, it seems they want to be seen by as many people as possible.”

Vegas had to agree with him there. The elites certainly liked flaunting their status, something his father had encouraged during his reign that led to them overestimating their own importance in their society. Vegas was still looking forward to disavowing them of that notion.

“They won’t be parading themselves around much longer if I have anything to say about it.”

Pete had heard people talk about the Alpha Lord in the village market, about how his ruling style was already markedly different from his predecessor. Where Lord Gun had largely ruled through fear and intimidation, shielding those in his inner circle from the consequences of their harmful actions, Lord Vegas seemed to want better for everyone. He wanted his people to be educated, to have the means to take care of themselves and their loved ones, and to not be taken advantage of by those in power. He’d ousted his father’s corrupt officials who lacked any actual governing ability and replaced them with scholars and advisors who could fill in the gaps in his own governing education for the betterment of the people of the province.

He was also ruthless with those intransigent to the changes he wanted to implement. It didn’t make him many allies among the ruling class but he didn’t seem to be worried.

And that had Pete somewhat concerned.

The moment Ken had walked up to them, without the distracting smells of horses and other people to mask it, Pete had been able to catch his scent for the first time since they’d arrived. The top notes were a light floral scent, like jasmine caught on the wind, pretty standard for betas. But the top notes weren’t what had Pete’s hackles up. Beneath the gentle unassuming smell, Pete could easily detect a certain pheromone he was all too familiar with. It soured whatever natural scent it came in contact with. Most people couldn’t smell the change but Pete had always been able to, since his childhood, with his father.

No matter how good someone got at lying, at any kind of deception, at consciously compensating for their physical tics and tells, the human body always responded the same way. Lying caused a sense of internalized anxiety to spike, which caused the person to unconsciously release a pheromone that had a very specific scent. It didn’t matter who it was coming from. For all of Pete’s life, ever since he’d first noticed it as a child whenever his father was being deceptive, it always smelled the same. The pheromone took whatever the person’s natural scent was and gave it an undertone of decay. Pete had learned very quickly to pick up on it for his own safety because if his father was being dishonest for any reason, it never led to anything good for Pete. He had been astonished to learn that most people couldn’t seem to smell the pheromone no matter how sensitive their nose was to other smells. 

Why did Lord Vegas’ guard smell as though every word out of his mouth was tainted with some sort of dishonesty? Even when he was objectively speaking truth, such as having boarded their horses at the stables and secured lodging for them. For the pheromone to be ever present in the man’s scent meant that his very existence was fraudulent in some way.

And the fact that Vegas had mentioned that the guard called Ken had been part of his father’s retinue caused Pete to be even less trusting of him.

What could the man be hiding?

“Pete?” The concerned tone in Vegas’ voice made something warm unfurl in Pete’s stomach but he couldn’t focus on that. “Are you sure I don’t need to have Arm examine you? That’s the second time you’ve zoned out since we came down here.”

Pete shook his head once again and assured the man that he was fine. Getting lost in his own thoughts was certainly no reason to distract the healer from treating Yaai. Pete knew that he needed to get to the bottom of whatever was going on with the guard before Yaai was healed and Vegas left the village. Just because they didn’t want to be betrothed to each other didn’t mean that Pete didn’t want to see the man and his brother safe. 

That afternoon, Pete went in search of the perfect accomplice to his mission.

And he had just the girl in mind.

Chapter Text

Hopping around on rooftops wasn’t exactly the safest thing to do. But it was definitely one of the easiest ways to not be spotted by adults. Nobody ever thought to look up.

Bunn knew P’Pete probably wouldn’t approve of her methods.

But that was his own fault for not being specific enough when he’d asked her to follow the man around the village without being seen.

He hadn’t said anything about staying on the ground.

And really, it wasn’t like the strange guard did a lot. He was almost always with the other guard Lord Vegas and Lord Macau had brought with them. For those particularly boring times, Bunn had recruited other village children to keep an eye on the man. Technically, P’Pete had only asked her to keep an eye on him whenever he went off on his own but in order to do that, she would have had to constantly watch him. She liked her way better. Her friends watched the man when he was stationed at P’Pete’s home, easy enough considering most people never paid attention to kids playing in the village, and whenever he went somewhere without the other guard or one of the lords, they would let her know.

Which was how she found herself jumping from one roof to another, just behind the guard on the ground as he made his way towards the entrance of the village. He kept looking behind him, like he was worried about being followed, and Bunn kept having to duck down to keep from being seen. Bunn really just wished he would get on with whatever he was doing that had him looking so suspicious in the first place.

It was annoying always reporting back to P’Pete with nothing to show for it. The look of disappointment on P’Pete’s face was always disheartening. He never made her feel like he was disappointed in her, just the situation. He seemed worried for the lords and P’Pete only ever really worried about Yaai Ratsami so Bunn knew it was serious.

In the almost two weeks since the lords had come to the village, Lord Vegas seemed to follow P’Pete everywhere. Sometimes, Lord Macau would go with them but he mostly stayed at P’Pete’s house with the healer and the guards. Bunn liked the way P’Pete’s scent brightened whenever he was with Lord Vegas. P’Pete said it was just because Yaai was responding well to the healer’s treatments and he was happy that she was finally getting better. Bunn thought that didn’t really make a lot of sense because P’Pete only smelled brighter when Lord Vegas was around, not any other time.

Adults and their changing scents were odd.

Bunn watched as the guard stopped outside the stables and got the attention of one of the hands. She silently crept along the roof until she could just make out what they were saying.

“Where is the courier? It’s very important that this message be received by the palace as soon as possible.” Bunn wanted to roll her eyes. The guard always acted like his business was more important than anyone else’s. The other guard wasn’t like that so why was he?

“The courier is out on a run and won’t be back until morning. Your message will have to wait until then.” Bunn stifled a laugh. The stablehand didn’t like the guard or his attitude but always tried to remain polite since he represented the lord.

“You’re telling me this village only has one courier! Honestly, I can’t wait to be back in the palace and done with this backwater place. You make sure that as soon as that courier arrives back in the village, he has this message on him. It’s from Lord Vegas himself.”

That made Bunn pause. Even though they’d only been in the village a short time, she knew that Lord Vegas and Lord Macau didn’t use their guards as messengers or runners. If they needed something and it was within their ability to get it themselves, they did just that.

Which meant that if Lord Vegas truly needed a personal message delivered to the palace, he would have sought out the courier himself, not sent his brother’s guard in his stead.

Which meant that the message the guard seemed so desperate to send possibly wasn’t from Lord Vegas at all.

In an instant, Bunn knew she had to get that message before the courier got back. Even though she couldn’t read yet, she was really good at copying script.

“I’ll make sure it’s the first thing in his bag as soon as I see him,” the stablehand replied, voice high with false deference.

Bunn dropped down to the ground as the guard left the stables and headed back in the direction of P’Pete’s home. She needed to get her hands on that message and copy it without being caught by the stablehand.

Maybe P’Pete would be happy that she finally had something to show for her sneakiness when she showed him what was in the guard’s secret message.

Pete quickly changed the weft yarn on his shuttle to the next color in the pattern Yaai had sketched out for him. He could handle simpler designs by himself so they had devised a plan that would have Pete doing solid fabrics that could be dyed after completion or fabrics with simple color patterns. Pete had been weaving with Yaai since childhood but he was still no match for the elderly woman. And until her health fully returned and she was able to rejoin him at their loom, Pete still had to keep them afloat.

It didn’t help that Lord Vegas was always nearby. The man was quite distracting.

In the days since they’d arrived, the healer Arm had been attending to Yaai’s medicinal needs full-time which freed Pete up to continue their work downstairs. He’d assumed that Lord Vegas would spend much of his time around the village with his brother but that didn’t seem to be the case. Whenever the brothers weren’t together, Lord Vegas stayed close, as if he’d taken it upon himself to watch over Pete since the family head wasn’t able to.

Pete wanted to be irritated at the attention. He didn’t need someone looking after him. Especially when that someone was a pampered lord getting his first real look at how his subjects lived. Pete knew that his village certainly wasn’t anything compared to the pomp and grandeur of the palace Lord Vegas had grown up in but it was his home. Granted, Lord Vegas didn’t seem too put out by the ruggedness of the village. When the village children had pulled him into a game that had resulted in his finery getting dirty, instead of changing into another pair of chong kben offered to him by Lord Macau, he’d requested something that would make him fit in more with the villagers. Pete had offered a pha kao mah of his own, not really thinking of the significance of such a gesture, only to be a little shocked at the way Lord Vegas proceeded to treasure the garment.

Seeing Lord Vegas wearing an item of his own day in and day out was playing with Pete’s mind, making him read more into the attention the man paid to him than was proper or possible.

“Pete?”

Pete looked up from the half-finished cloth on the loom to see Lord Vegas standing a few feet away with a bowl of something fragrant in his hands. His bare chest made Pete’s fingers itch for the days when he’d first arrived and he remained covered at all times. The lord was taking to village life far too quickly for Pete’s sanity.

“My Lord, did you need something?”

Vegas grinned as he joined Pete on the loom’s bench and placed the bowl, what looked to be kuaytiaw , into Pete’s hands.

“Here. You’ve been at the loom for hours and haven’t eaten anything. It wouldn’t do Yaai any good for her health to return only in time to see yours forfeit.” When Pete only stared at the man in slight confusion, Vegas sighed and nodded at the bowl. “Eat, you need your strength.”

Pete wanted to argue that he was plenty strong enough but as he opened his mouth, his stomach chose that moment to make the worst growling sound either man had ever heard. With an embarrassed chuckle, Pete took a grateful slurp of the flavorful broth. It didn’t taste quite like Yaai’s kuaytiaw but she couldn’t exactly cook anything. That meant that the lord had either sent one of the guards to the inn to bring back food or he’d somehow managed to cook it himself.

“Not too bad, right? It’s been a while since I’ve been in any kind of kitchen but Yaai yelled instructions at me and Macau in between taking the medicine Arm had prepared for her.” Vegas’ words promptly had Pete choking on the warm liquid as it made its way down his throat.

“ You made this?” Vegas chuckled at Pete’s surprise.

“Don’t look so shocked. I was practically raised by kitchen aunties. I haven’t forgotten everything. Besides, I think Yaai was testing me.”

“Testing you? For what?” At Pete’s question, Vegas took the bowl from his hands and took a sip of the broth, his eyes never wavering from Pete’s. Pete swallowed as he watched the lord’s throat bob.

“To make sure I would be a good provider for her grandson.”

Pete was immediately grateful that the man had taken the bowl from him because his words caused him to start choking all over again. And the lord’s warm palm rubbing soothing circles into his back did nothing to help his case.

“I would say I can’t believe she did that but it would be an outright lie. I apologize for her impropriety, my lord.” Vegas only shook his head with a chuckle.

“No need to apologize. It’s natural for parents, at least most parents, to want the best for their children. And considering we’re still betrothed, she’s just doing what anyone in her position would do.”

Pete sighed. Of course he would bring that up.

“But that’s temporary and she knows it. I think she’s just doing it to be a menace. At least it means she’s feeling better though. Otherwise she wouldn’t be forcing the provincial lord to prepare a meal.”

Vegas opened his mouth to reply but before he could get any words out, he noticed the little girl, the one called Bunn who seemed to absolutely adore Pete, waving from across the pathway.

“I think your friend wants a word.”

“My friend?” Pete turned on the bench to face out, the way Vegas was sitting, and saw Bunn beckoning him over. “Oh, she’s been working on something for me and probably wants to update me on her progress. Excuse me for a moment.”

Vegas waved for Pete to go meet with the child. It was honestly quite adorable, the way he doted on the girl and the way she obviously loved the man like a big brother. He knew Pete didn’t have anyone other than Yaai so it made sense that he would have quasi-adopted the village children as his own extended family unit.

Everything he’d learned about Pete in the past week and a half just made him want to learn more. The man was interesting despite the fact that he tried to pass himself off as anything but. Vegas had learned that Yaai Ratsami was not only the Saengtham family head but also a village elder. As such, both she and Pete were well-respected and adored by the people of their village. He’d learned that Pete had taught many of the children and teenagers how to defend themselves, leaning on the knowledge he’d gained during the time he’d spent with his father being forced to fight in his youth. Pete didn’t want to be pitied for the way he’d grown up, instead choosing to use his own experiences as a means to help others. He wanted better for those around him.

Despite what his smile would have you thinking, Vegas had also learned that Pete wasn’t all sunshine all the time. While at the inn one night shortly after their arrival, the innkeep had told him a few stories of how Pete had found out about some alphas in the village who had been abusive either to their mates or their children. Once Pete found out, it was only a matter of time before the alphas simply disappeared. An argument could be made that he’d given them a choice to either straighten up or leave and they’d simply chosen to leave. However, when the abandoned omega’s mating bite began to fade within days of their mate disappearing, it was obvious to everyone what had happened.

Mating bites only fade that quickly for one reason.

There was a darkness in Pete that he only seemed to bring out in defense of others. Once Vegas found out about it, it wouldn’t leave his mind. If Pete would do that when an innocent was threatened, what would he do if it were his family? Just knowing that darkness was lurking beneath the surface, hiding under every bright smile he shot to the world, made Pete infinitely more interesting to Vegas.

“You know, I’m still waiting for you to realize I’m right.”

Vegas blinked his eyes away from Pete and Bunn deep in conversation to see that his brother had somehow snuck onto the bench beside him without him noticing in the slightest. He really needed to be more aware of his surroundings. As Macau’s words sank in, Vegas gave his brother a pensive look.

“What if you are right?” The look of shock on Macau’s face almost made Vegas laugh. For all his insistence that he was right, he certainly hadn’t been prepared for Vegas to entertain it. “What if I am attracted to Pete? What if he would be perfect ruling at my side as my mate? What if, against all odds, our father made one good decision with this betrothal? That all means nothing if, as soon as Yaai is healed, Pete still wants to nullify the contract. And as far as he’s said, that’s still very much his intention.”

Macau visibly deflated at Vegas’ words. Leave to his brother to take all the fun out of being right.

“You could just court him properly,” he offered. Vegas’ eyebrows shot up at Macau’s suggestion but Macau just nodded his head. “I’m serious. As long as we’re here, as long as Arm is still treating Yaai, the two of you are still betrothed. And as long as you’re still betrothed, you still have time. Start courting him now, convince him that you actually want to be with him because you like him and not because of some contract, and maybe you won’t even end up needing to nullify the betrothal at all.”

Vegas immediately shook his head.

“He would never agree to that,” he muttered. Macau just laughed beside him.

“How do you know? Two weeks ago, my brother came to this little village with the sole purpose of breaking a betrothal contract. And now look at you! You’ve fallen in love with the one person you never even intended to lay eyes on!” Vegas gave Macau a hard shove, almost making the man fall off the bench they shared, as his eyes darted across the path. At least it didn’t look like Pete had heard his brother’s shouting.

“Keep your voice down,” Vegas bit out, only to be met with an eye roll in response from Macau. “I am not in love with him.”

Macau scoffed in response.

“Tell that to your scent, hia. Pretty sure the only reason P’Pete hasn’t picked up on it already is because he’s not familiar with what you smell like when you’re not around him. He can probably tell that you’re physically attracted to him but I’m sure he’s used to that from most alphas.”

Vegas sighed in defeat. It was no use arguing with Macau when he was convinced of something. The Theerapanyakul obstinance was certainly strong with him.

But Vegas had to admit that the idea of courting Pete was appealing. It would allow them to continue getting to know one another better with the possibility of becoming mates on their own terms, only using the betrothal contract for the cover of propriety it would provide them.

Vegas just had no idea how he was supposed to woo Pete into a courtship that would ultimately lead to him agreeing to continue their betrothal.

Pete froze as he read the words hastily scrawled on the parchment Bunn had given him. As he looked at the child, the ease in her stance told him she had no idea what she’d just placed in his hands. She was merely proud to finally have something to show for the days she’d been keeping an eye on Ken.

“Nong, you’re absolutely certain this is what the message said?” Bunn nodded.

“Yes phi, I copied everything exactly as it was in the message that guard gave to the stablehand. I made sure I didn’t skip anything. And nobody saw me either. I waited until the stablehand went to sleep to copy the message and then I put it back exactly where he’d left it. Did I do good?”

Despite the disturbing information the child had managed to uncover, Pete couldn’t help but swell with pride for her.

“You did wonderfully, Nong Bunn. I’m very proud of you.” The bright smile he received in response was almost enough to make him forget the damning evidence in his hands.

“Do you want me to keep watching the guard? I can copy any other messages he sends while they’re here.”

Pete wasn’t entirely sure how much longer he had before Yaai was healed and it would be time for the lords to return to the palace. The idea of Lord Vegas leaving caused his heart to clench in his chest, something Pete wanted desperately to be able to ignore. If the letter was true, the two men were in danger from those closest to them and Pete didn’t have time for his feelings to get in the way.

“Keep watching him until they leave the village,” he nodded solemnly to Bunn, “and make sure he doesn’t know he’s being followed. By any of you.” Bunn’s eyes got wide at that. Pete just grinned. “Yes, I’m well aware that you recruited your friends. Just stay safe, okay?” Bunn looked a bit chastised for a moment but then brightened once more.

“I’m always safe, phi!”

Pete watched as she ran off down the path before looking down at the letter in his hands. His face fell as he read the words the child had dutifully copied for him.

Vegas and Macau were both in danger.

He had to tell them before they returned to the palace.

“Khun Pete?”

Pete quickly folded the letter in his hand as he turned to see the healer had walked up behind him.

“Healer Arm? Is Yaai okay?”

The man smiled softly and nodded.

“She’s wonderful. In fact, she’s shown remarkable improvement since I began treating her. I’m confident in saying that she’ll be making a full recovery within the next few days.”

At the healer’s words, Pete felt a weight he hadn’t even fully realized he was carrying lift from his chest. Yaai was going to be okay. This sickness wouldn’t take her from him. He would still have his family.

“Thank you so much! That’s such wonderful news!” Forgetting himself, Pete wrapped his arms around the man’s shoulders and hugged him close. Arm chuckled awkwardly but returned the hug all the same.

“She’s awake right now if you want to go up and check on her. I’ll inform the lords as well.”

Pete sucked in a breath then. When Arm told them about Yaai’s recovery, they would begin their preparations to leave. Which meant Pete had even less time to warn Vegas than he thought.

Mind made up, Pete started up the steps to speak with Yaai and then he would find the lords and let them know of the vipers in their midst.

In the short time they’d been there, Pete knew he cared for the two of them far more than a mere subject should care for their liege. Macau was like a precocious younger sibling forced to act older than his years. Pete wanted to see the young man grow and flourish in whatever made him happy. And Vegas? Well, Vegas had whittled away a spot in Pete’s heart for himself when he wasn’t looking. Pete didn’t want to go back to a life where he wasn’t surrounded by the man’s scent when he walked into his home. Pete knew he couldn’t keep the man to himself but he would do whatever was in his power to keep him alive.

That would have to be enough for his heart.

Vegas watched as Pete started up the steps to his home and looked to his healer in confusion.

“Arm,” he called the man over. The healer hurried over to them with a quick bow. “Is everything alright with Khun Yaai? She was fine earlier. Why was Pete in such a rush?”

“Everything is perfectly fine, Lord Vegas. I was merely informing Khun Pete that his grandmother has responded positively to all my treatments. I believe she’ll make a full recovery within the next few days. He was headed up to see her just now. I’m sure he’s excited for her health to return. That will allow the two of you to finish up with your private matter and we can all return to the palace.”

The healer’s words should have made him happy. He knew that. And if it had still been their first day, they probably would have. But leaving Pete now? When he’d just figured out that he wanted to court him? Vegas felt sick. They were almost out of time and Pete didn’t even know his intentions had changed.

Vegas had to speak with Pete as soon as possible.

He rushed up the stairs with Macau hot on his heels. There was nobody guarding the home’s entrance since he’d given both Ken and Nop the day to themselves considering the villagers posed no real danger to them. Nop had tried to argue but Vegas wouldn’t hear it. He had no doubt the man was still nearby though, he never strayed far. Ken had also tried to argue but Vegas got the distinct feeling that he’d only done so out of professional obligation. In any case, it was only the four of them when Vegas and Macau entered the Saengtham home.

“My sweet boy, you must tell them soon,” Khun Yaai said as they entered. Her voice was already stronger than it had been that morning.

“I know, Yaai.”

There was a tinge of distress coloring Pete’s scent and Vegas didn’t like it at all. If Yaai was almost healed, shouldn’t he be happy? But who were the people they were talking about that Pete had information for? Was that causing the omega distress?

“What’s going on?” Vegas asked, causing both Pete and Yaai to jerk their faces towards the doorway as though they hadn’t even noticed his and Macau’s arrival. “Arm told us of Khun Yaai’s recovery. Is something else wrong?”

Vegas knelt in front of Pete, willing the man to tell him the cause of his concerns so he could make them go away. Pete took a deep breath and nodded.

“First of all, I wanted to thank you for bringing Healer Arm to treat Yaai. You could have used your authority to force us to nullify the betrothal without any care for her health at all. For that, I owe you both my life.”

Vegas shook his head and reached between them to take Pete’s hands in his own.

“You don’t owe us anything. Neither of you do.” Macau made a sound of agreement as he sank to his knees at his brother’s side.

“Vegas is right. Technically, because of the contract, our family owes yours much more than what you’ve agreed to.”

Pete gently tugged one of his hands free from Vegas’ and reached into his waistband. Vegas looked at the piece of parchment he revealed in confusion.

“Be that as it may, I wanted to repay you. You’ve secured Yaai’s life, so I want to help secure yours in return. I believe you’re both in danger.” Vegas opened his mouth to ask what Pete could possibly mean by that but Pete continued. “Ever since I was little, I’ve been able to detect a pheromone that shows up when people are lying. I’ve never been wrong whenever I’ve picked up on it before. When you arrived, I realized that your guard, the one called Ken, the pheromone is absolutely pervasive throughout his scent. Usually, I only smell it when they’re actively lying but with him, it’s constant.”

Both Vegas and Macau bristled. Not at Pete’s accusation, but at the idea that they had someone so close to them, someone charged with their safety, who was being deceptive in some way.

“I never liked him,” Macau muttered, mostly to himself. Confusion still reigned over Vegas’ features.

“So one of my guards is lying about something? It’s not ideal but I don’t really see how that puts my brother and I in danger.”

“I knew I would need proof,” Pete replied, smoothing the parchment in his hands. “So I had him followed. Whenever he wasn’t at his post, I had Bunn keeping tabs on him.” Vegas gasped.

“You had a child follow a royal guard around the village?” Pete shrugged.

“Adults tend to ignore the activities of children. They can get in and out of more places without being detected than you’d think. Children see and know far more than they’re given credit for and they gather information like sponges.” That made Vegas pause and think. How often were children just running around when adults discussed important matters? How much did they know? Suddenly, Pete’s utilization of the little girl made much more sense.

“What did she find?”

Pete held the parchment out towards Vegas and Macau with a sigh.

“Ken sent a message to the palace yesterday and Bunn was able to copy it before it was given to the courier. See for yourself.”

Vegas took the parchment from Pete and held it up so Macau could read it as well.

The lords’ return to the palace should take place within a fortnight. I truly wish the collective would have trusted me with the task of Lord Vegas’ end while I find myself in daily close contact with him. It would be an easy thing as he is presently distracted with his omega peasant. Once Lord Macau ascends, I trust you’ll bend his ear to show me favor as you will surely use him to undo the dismantling of your lives wrought by his brother. With Lord Vegas out of the picture, Lord Macau’s relative youth should make him more susceptible to your superior control of the province. The Theerapanyakul family, as they stand, is far too influential. Ruling two powerful provinces practically unchecked as they have will have your coffers emptied in no time. Without elites such as yourselves keeping these peasants in line, the province would surely fall. I look forward to our continued work upon my return to the palace. K.

As the two men read the letter, their scents turned acrid, like smoke in Pete’s lungs. He wanted to cough.

Vegas seethed. He’d known he never should have trusted a man who had worked under his father’s command but he certainly wouldn’t have guessed the guard would become part of some sort of plot to have him assassinated !

“Hia,” Macau suddenly bowed low, forehead touching the floor, “I swear to you I had no part in this. I would never betray you.” Vegas reached out to assure his little brother, the child he’d practically raised himself, that he knew the truth of his words. But Pete spoke before he got the chance.

“He’s telling the truth. After being around the two of you since you arrived, I can tell the love you have for each other is pure. The two of you would fight the gods themselves and win if the other one were threatened.” His tentative smile made Vegas pull his little brother into a hug. When they released each other, Pete took the parchment from Vegas’ hands. “It looks like whoever Ken was writing to seems to think that Macau will be easy to control if he were to become Lord Alpha in your place. The policies you’ve implemented have made the elites view you as their enemy.”

Vegas rolled his eyes.

“If their reaction to being expected to pay their fair share of taxes to ensure the province flourishes is to have me assassinated and Macau put in my place, they’ve got a rude awakening. My brother and I are of one mind in how we govern. He would no sooner abandon the plans we’ve worked towards than he would bring our father back from the dead. They truly know nothing about us. Macau is my right hand and heir for reasons that go deeper than the blood we share. We share a vision of what this province could be, of what our people could accomplish if they just had the means. Killing me wouldn’t undo a thing we’ve put in place.”

Vegas sighed, the weight of his newfound knowledge heavy on his shoulders. He’d known that the elites were no supporters of his but he never would have thought they would take it this far.

And Pete, with his ability to sniff out liars and his little spy network of village children, had discovered the plot in one fell swoop!

That made his desire to keep Pete close even stronger. Without Pete telling them about what he’d found, they would have been on their way back to the palace in a few days’ time with a conspirator in their midst and they would have been none the wiser.

Despite how he wanted to rip the man’s throat out with his teeth, Vegas knew he couldn’t kill Ken outright. His sudden death could send a warning to whoever else was a part of this plot to put Macau on his throne that something was amiss and they would go back into hiding like rats. He needed to unmask the entire group at once.

If only he could use the children in and around the palace in the same manner Pete had managed to use the village children to find the plot in the first place.

That thought began to spiral immediately. If Pete returned with him, he could create a new spy network with the children of the palace in the same way he’d created one with the village children. He’d said it himself, adults tend to ignore the activities of children. Surely kids who were in and around the palace on a daily basis knew much more about the inner workings of court politics than they realized. Pete could work with that easily!

Pete cleared his throat and brought Vegas out of his thoughts.

“Now that Yaai is almost recovered, I know the two of you will be returning to the palace soon. I couldn’t let you leave without telling you what I’d found. Even though we’re going to nullify our betrothal, your safety is still important to me.”

Macau made a noise beside him that Vegas interpreted as his brother basically telling him that he was about to miss his chance.

“What if we remain betrothed?” The words rushed out of him before he really had the chance to examine them. Pete’s eyes went wide.

“What are you talking about?”

“My safety is important to you, yes? So come back with me. Help me uncover the people behind this plot on my life. You can return to the palace with me as my spymaster. We can use our betrothal as a cover. We’ll make an announcement, keep it as true as possible. In cleaning out our father’s offices, Macau and I found the betrothal contract. We had intended to break the contract but once we met, it was love at first sight and I brought you back with me instead. No one will question us spending time together to discuss the information you’ve gathered because they’ll just see a future mated pair. It’s perfect.”

And if Vegas planned to use any time he got to spend with Pete not discussing the assassination plot but instead properly courting the omega, well that was better left unsaid.

After staring blankly at Vegas for a few seconds, Pete suddenly barked out an incredulous laugh. He wiped tears from his eyes as his shoulders shook with mirth.

“Right, we’ll just pretend to be in love with each other while I’m secretly spying on people who want you dead. Why stop there? Why not bring Yaai with us too? She could be my second-in-command, gathering intel from the palace aunties. That would really sell the relationship angle!” Pete continued to laugh as though everything he’d said was in jest but Vegas wasn’t laughing. In fact, he liked the idea.

“You’re not wrong. Since Khun Yaai is your only living relative, it would make sense for us to include her in the blending of our families. And I would have no issue with her being your second-in-command. It makes perfect sense actually.”

Pete shook his head, not believing what he was hearing.

“You’re serious? You actually think we could fake a relationship well enough to be able to ingratiate me into court politics to the point where I would be able to foil an entire assassination plot? Have you lost your mind?”

“It wouldn’t be fake,” Macau mumbled to himself. Pete and Vegas didn’t seem to hear him but Yaai looked at the boy with a twinkle in her eye and nodded.

“I’ll do it,” she volunteered from her nest, having been silent for the entire discussion. “As soon as Healer Arm says I’m healthy enough to travel, I’ll go.”

“Yaai,” Pete hissed at his grandmother. The elderly woman shrugged her shoulders with a grin.

“What? My sweet boy, your liege Lord Alpha and betrothed mate has requested our family’s assistance with an urgent matter of life and death. I raised you to help those in need. Look at him! He’s clearly in need of help that only you can provide.”

Pete sighed, at a loss for words. Somehow, he was supposed to uncover an assassination plot while faking a betrothal while attempting to keep himself from losing his heart to the very alpha he was going to be faking a betrothal with!

He was just a simple weaver in a village! What had his life become?

But when his eyes met Vegas’ once more, when the man’s scent blanketed him in comfort, when his touch felt like trapped lightning, Pete was practically powerless.

Strangely enough, being practically powerless to Lord Vegas still felt pretty powerful in the grand scheme of things.

“Okay,” he relented, “we’ll return to the palace with you. I’ll help you find out who’s behind this plot to kill you.”

Vegas’ responding smile brightened the entire room. Before he could respond, Macau embraced Pete with delight.

“I always wanted in-laws!”

Chapter Text

Pete had seen the region’s palace once before in his youth, during a celebration for Songkran. It was one of the last happy memories he had of his mother before she’d passed. As the palace came into view again for only the second time in his life, he couldn’t help pondering on all the ways his entire world had changed.

As a child, he’d merely been excited to spend time with his family for the holiday, getting to see the beautiful sights of the palace and the surrounding city. He could remember being in awe of the vibrant colors of the decorations everywhere, of the lively festival filled with joyful celebrants.

As an adult, it was no less beautiful and lively. Perhaps it was the simplicity of his own village in contrast but Pete found his eyes being drawn in every direction. There wasn’t a holiday going on, or any celebration Pete was aware of so he wasn’t really sure if the palace just regularly looked so decorated or if there was some sort of special event taking place.

As they rode up, the crowd that had gathered just around the city gates suddenly poured out into the road with small banners in their hands and bright smiles on their faces. Pete turned slightly in the saddle so he could meet his betrothed’s eyes in curiosity. The lord grinned in response before calling out in a strong voice that could easily be heard over the crowd, 

“Khun Yaai Ratsami Saengtham, as head of your family and dear grandmother of my betrothed, the beloved Omega Phongsakorn, I, Lord Alpha Kornwit Theerapanyakul, am honored to present to you both the venerable royal palace of Nonthaburi. May you be welcomed into the hearts of its people as you have welcomed mine into your own.”

Even though he’d tried to prepare himself, Pete’s face still heated up at hearing Vegas call him ‘beloved’.

Before they’d left the village, Vegas had made it clear that they would need to do whatever it took to keep up appearances both in their journey back to the palace and once they arrived. Not only was it necessary for Ken to be under the impression that their betrothal was real but should they be seen on the road along the way, any passersby would also need to believe it as well. As such, Pete had ridden double with Vegas on his horse so they would be seen close together at all times. He’d also purchased a rot ma to transport their belongings and so that Yaai wouldn’t have to worry about sitting a horse for long periods of time. Macau had offered his own horse to pull the carriage, spending the majority of the trip in deep conversation with Yaai. Pete was sure the two of them were conspiring on something because whenever he or Vegas would look at them, they would both fall suspiciously silent.

Vegas was just happy that his brother finally had such a nurturing presence in his life. Yaai doted on the young man as if he were her own and he basked in the attention.

Pete hadn’t been expecting there to be a huge crowd to welcome them to the palace. He’d thought they would arrive, he and Yaai would get settled into their quarters, and then an official announcement would be made regarding his and Vegas’ betrothal.

Vegas, however, hadn’t wanted to waste any time whatsoever. He’d sent word ahead back to the palace for a feast to be prepared in honor of the arrival of his betrothed. It was important for their facade that the people be just as familiar with Pete’s and Yaai’s faces as they were with his and Macau’s. For all intents and purposes, the two of them were to be treated with the same level of respect due to the Lord Alpha and his Heir. As far as the common folk were concerned, Pete was to be his mate and Omega Consort of the realm. As far as Vegas was concerned, he was planning on doing everything in his power to make that an actualized reality and not just a ruse to thwart an assassination plot.

As soon as Pete’s feet were on the ground, Vegas pulled him close. A couple of young omegas in the crowd swooned at the action. When he leaned in to Pete’s neck and took a deep inhale, Vegas idly wondered if he would ever get used to Pete’s scent and the feeling of home it evoked in him.

He hoped not.

“You don’t seem to be worried about propriety at all,” Pete whispered, somewhat scandalized at Vegas’ open display of affection.

Even if it was all for show, scenting someone in full view of onlookers just didn’t seem like something they should be doing. It was one thing for Vegas’ behavior towards Pete to only be witnessed by their family members or their guards; it was entirely separate for the population of the palace city to see the same thing.

Vegas chuckled as he trailed his nose along Pete’s heated skin for everyone gathered to see.

“I would think you’d have realized by now that my sentiments towards propriety are somewhat lacking at best,” Vegas replied back, his voice low in Pete’s ear. “Besides, an alpha publicly scenting their future mate is hardly inappropriate. What would be truly inappropriate would be if you didn’t return the gesture. It could almost be viewed as a rejection . We wouldn’t want that, now would we?”

Pete fought the urge to roll his eyes at the man. Regardless of his perceived status as the future Omega Consort, that particular action would most certainly be viewed as flagrantly disrespectful.

“You’re impossible,” Pete hissed with a smile on his face, even as he leaned in closer in order to return Vegas’ scenting. Beneath his mild annoyance, he couldn’t help feeling grounded by Vegas’ scent, that gentle smokiness that made his mind a little fuzzy around the edges.

“You’ll get used to it,” Vegas simply replied with a grin. “Now, if my instructions were followed, there should be a feast awaiting us in the banquet hall. Care to join me, my beloved Omega ?”

Pete felt his skin heat at Vegas’ words. It wasn’t fair that the man’s words should have such an effect on his body, especially when the words were all for show. But even as the thought crossed Pete’s mind, he realized that Vegas’ scent had remained the same. If his words were a ruse, surely Pete would have been able to pick up on the change in his scent, the addition of that sickly pheromone. Perhaps, with the crowd of people and their ever changing scents wafting through the air, the pheromone wasn’t as easy to pick up on. Pete decided to ignore the fact that he’d never had any issues picking up on the pheromone before, attuned to it as he was.

With a light shake of his head, Pete quickly plastered on a bright smile as he met Vegas’ gaze.

“Of course,” he answered, “lead the way, my darling Alpha .”

The slight falter in Vegas’ otherwise sure steps made him want to giggle to himself. At least he wasn’t the only one affected.

In the banquet hall, Pete realized Vegas hadn’t been exaggerating in the slightest when he’d said that a feast had been prepared in their honor. Practically every flat surface was covered with food and drink, every delicacy imaginable within arms’ reach. The crowd parted readily for them as Vegas guided Pete towards the raised dais at the far end of the room. Left and right, people bowed to them as they passed. Pete had to stop himself from insisting they not show him any sort of deference, that he wasn’t anyone special or deserving of such treatment. He had a part to play if he wanted to ingratiate himself with these people, with Vegas’ people, and acting as though he didn’t have a place among them wouldn’t serve anyone’s purpose.

They’d barely begun eating, Vegas taking it upon himself to feed Pete from his plate, when a throat cleared beside them. Nop knelt down and spoke in a voice just low enough for the two of them to hear,

“My apologies Lord Vegas, Khun Napapon wishes to make his formal introduction to the royal couple.” At the mention of the man’s name, Vegas’ scent immediately went darker. Pete looked around to see if anyone else had noticed the change but the expressions on the faces of those nearest to them remained the same.

“He probably wants to assert his societal importance to my mate in order to garner favor.” Vegas turned so that only Pete could see the way he rolled his eyes. “One of the many elites I’ve made less wealthy through my implementation of fairer taxes. Keep your eyes open with him.” Pete nodded his head, already wanting to soothe Vegas’ nerves so that his scent would go back to normal. Honestly, was everyone else just so accustomed to the minute changes in his scent that they had no reaction? Or were they simply unable to detect the difference?

“Do you think he could be behind the plot?” Pete whispered, a silly smile on his face as he trailed his nose along Vegas’ jawline. Anyone not within earshot would see nothing more than a happy couple being affectionate with each other.

Vegas let out a gentle sigh at Pete’s touch before he realized that the man had asked a question.

“I wouldn’t be surprised. But that’s for you to find out, isn’t it, teerak ?”

“Lord Vegas,” Nop cleared his throat once again, louder to make it obvious he wasn’t just addressing them but bringing the attention of the whole room, “Consort Pete, the honorable Khun Napapon and his son, Tawan.”

Pete looked up to see an older man dressed in more finery than could possibly be considered respectful considering both he and Vegas were still wearing their riding clothes. It was clearly a show of his wealth. Pete took a breath through his nose and realized that both the man and his son were also wearing heavy perfume. It was practically impossible to detect their natural scents through the miasma, muchless anything additional that could be lurking underneath. That alone made Pete suspicious of the two.

Both men greeted them with a low bow.

“My dear Lord Vegas, it pleases me greatly to see your safe return to the palace,” Napapon’s voice boomed, all showy and boisterous. “And you’ve returned with a potential mate as well? How fortuitous for the realm. We were all under the impression you would not be seeking a mate for quite some time. By the gods, I would have put forth my son Tawan for consideration had we known you were in the market. I recall the two of you were quite close as children.”

Vegas scoffed lightly, not so loud as to be openly disrespectful among so many members of the court, but Pete caught the sound all the same.

“I’m afraid your memory is dulling around the edges, khun.” He cut his eyes to the younger man standing off to the side. “Tawan was always far more interested in my cousin when we were children.” The older man blustered for a moment at being caught in his lie but Vegas just shook his head. “In any case, I could not be happier in my choice of mate.” He brushed a lock of Pete’s hair from his forehead, just to ensure he didn’t waste an opportunity to have his hands on the man while they had a captive audience. Vegas let his voice rise above the din of chatter still going on throughout the banquet hall, keen to let everyone present know just what Pete was to him, the version of the story they’d agreed on. “Though our fathers contracted our betrothal in our youth and without our knowledge, upon meeting and spending time together, our feelings for each other grew.” With the same hand that had shifted Pete’s hair, he cupped Pete’s cheek and gave him a genuine smile, hoping that Pete would understand the truth in his next words. “The day he agreed to return to the palace with me and become my official consort and mate was the happiest day of my life. I’m sure it will only be surpassed on the day our bond is sealed.”

Pete’s breath hitched in his throat at the sincerity in Vegas’ tone.

It’s all for show , Pete reminded himself. But it was hard to believe that when Vegas’ eyes were staring into his with such warmth.

“Well then,” Khun Napapon gave a haughty sigh, “I believe a toast is in order to celebrate the happy couple. May the province remain prosperous under your continued reign.”

Even without being able to smell the presence of the pheromone beneath the man’s perfume, Pete had no issues whatsoever picking out the sarcasm in the man’s tone. Just who did he think he was fooling? Regardless of his feelings about Vegas’ leadership and policies, he was still the region’s Lord Alpha! If the hapless man couldn’t even be bothered to fake the proper level of respect, why did he even approach them in front of so many people to begin with? But when Pete thought about it, the people probably provided the perfect cover. Khun Napapon would still get respectability points for being the first to officially greet the Lord Alpha and his soon-to-be mate upon their return to the palace while simultaneously being able to blame the crowded room as distraction for his lacking manners.

As he walked away, Pete tucked himself into Vegas’ side.

“Whether he’s part of the plot or not, I don’t like him or his son.” Vegas snorted a quiet laugh in response.

Hours later, after Pete had been introduced to practically every prominent member of palace society, he was ready to fall asleep on Vegas’ shoulder. He wanted nothing more than to finally wash the grime of travel from his body and fall into the closest thing resembling a bed.

“Brother, brother-in-law,” Macau appeared in front of their dais with a mischievous smile on his face, “I took the liberty of having a surprise prepared for you both and the palace staff has just informed me that it’s ready. If you would please follow me.”

Pete shot Yaai a look to which the old woman merely grinned in response. Vegas didn’t seem to have any clue what his brother was talking about so they merely rose from the dais and followed the young lord from the banquet hall.

“Macau, we haven’t been away from home so long that I forgot the way to my own chambers,” Vegas chuckled as they walked through the halls of the palace. Macau stopped at a familiar door and turned around, playful grin still in place.

“That’s the thing, hia. It’s not merely your chambers anymore. It’s yours and P’Pete’s now. So while you sent word ahead to have a feast prepared for our arrival, I sent word ahead to have your chambers converted into a proper couple’s suite. All of Phi’s things were brought here when we arrived. The maids left out some items in case you wanted to use them to build a nest.”

Pete’s mouth fell open at the young man’s words. He hadn’t really thought so far ahead as to his and Vegas’ sleeping arrangements but he’d assumed they would have separate rooms. At the very least, as far as the general public knew, they weren’t mated yet . Surely it would have been more proper for them to sleep apart, right?

Vegas’ earlier words about propriety rang in his mind and he had to chuckle to himself.

He turned to see Vegas eyeing his brother with a calculating stare, and Macau returning his own in kind.

“I’m sure I can make a nest on the floor,” Pete said. “I’m already imposing enough in your private space, I wouldn’t want to take your bed as well.”

“Nonsense,” Vegas replied in a sharp tone that surprised Pete just a little. “It only helps our ruse to be seen retiring to the same chambers at night. And the maids will surely gossip if they see you’ve made a nest on the floor instead of the bed where it belongs. Macau is right. This is the best solution to keep people from questioning the nature of our relationship.”

Pete could only nod in agreement, seeing the sense in Vegas’ words. They couldn’t afford for the truth to get out, not if Pete hoped to use his position to help Vegas and Macau uncover the traitors in their court.

Vegas cast a sidelong glance at his brother, somewhat impressed by the young man’s cunning. Vegas hadn’t actually thought so far ahead as to figure out their sleeping arrangements for the duration of Pete’s time in the palace. Macau’s machinations truly worked out in everyone’s favor. It made their relationship appear far more legitimate while also ensuring that Vegas got to spend most of his time with Pete in order to actually focus on courting the man in earnest.

“There should be a fresh basin of water waiting for you as well so you both can wash the grime of our travels away before you retire for the night,” Macau added with a smug expression on his face. “Hia, I trust you’ll take good care of my new brother-in-law. I have a feeling he’s going to become my new favorite family member.”

“I think you’ve made your point,” Vegas chuckled with an affectionate roll of his eyes. “Please make sure Yaai’s accommodations are to her liking before you turn in, nong.” Macau ducked his head.

“Of course, hia. Good night to you both.”

As Macau turned to walk away, movement from down the hall caught both Vegas’ and Pete’s attention. When they both looked, they could see one of the maidservants peeking out from behind a column. Her youthful giggles made it clear just what her intentions in eavesdropping were.

“I suppose I should have warned you that the palace has eyes everywhere,” Vegas whispered in Pete’s ear. Then, loud enough for their would-be spy to hear, he spoke again. “Come my dear, I’ve waited days to have you all to myself and I’m not known for my patience.”

Before Pete could respond, Vegas pulled him into the room and closed the door behind them. As Pete took a deep breath, he had to gasp as he suddenly found himself completely enveloped in Vegas’ scent. Every surface was spotless but the air smelled unmistakably of the man in whose arms he found himself. It was like curling into a plush blanket beside a campfire on a starry night in an orchard. The tension in Pete’s body was instantly soothed by the smell. That smell meant safety, it meant home.

That didn’t make any sense at all. This wasn’t his home. His home was the village he’d left. His home was the stilt house he shared with Yaai with their loom underneath. Not this palace, filled with opulence and treachery in equal measure. Pete knew he would do well to remember that. As soon as they uncovered and thwarted the assassination plot on Vegas and Macau, their fake relationship would end and Pete would be on his way back to his real home.

So why did his body and mind recoil at the very thought of leaving Vegas’ side? Of leaving his scent? Of leaving him ?

“Pete? Is everything okay? You look a little dazed.”

At Vegas’ prompting, Pete shook himself of his thoughts and stepped back. There was nobody but the two of them in the room so it wasn’t like they needed to be touching. Vegas’ hands hovered between them for a moment, as if he wanted to reach back out and pull Pete in once again.

But that had to be Pete’s mind playing tricks on him.

“I think the past few days have finally caught up with me,” he offered as explanation for his odd behavior. “I think I could sleep for a week.”

Vegas eyed Pete for a moment, clearly not believing his reasoning but then sighed and nodded.

“Then why don’t we get washed up now and rest? Tomorrow, I’ll show you around the palace and we can get a plan in place for setting up a spy network for you. Come, the bedroom is this way.”

On instinct, Vegas placed his hand on the small of Pete’s back to guide him through the chamber’s entry room. As they passed through a gauzy curtain into the bedroom, Pete inhaled sharply. Vegas’ scent was even stronger there, although Pete also picked up on notes of his own scent. It wasn’t until he remembered that Macau had mentioned that he’d arranged for Pete’s belongings to be brought to the room along with Vegas’ that it made sense.

The combination of their scents was quite pleasant.

At the foot of the bed were an assortment of blankets folded neatly in stacks, basic nesting materials the housekeeping servants had thought to put out for Pete’s use. He’d never made a nest with such luxurious items before.

Vegas walked over to a steaming washbasin set against the wall and removed his shirt. Pete had seen the man shirtless numerous times in his time in the village but there was something about seeing him undressed in his own bedroom, without others around, preparing for bed, that made Pete’s breath hitch in his throat. He hadn’t taken the intimacy of cohabiting together into account when he’d agreed to share Vegas’ chambers to keep up appearances.

“Will you come to me?” At first, Pete wasn’t sure if Vegas had meant for him to hear the words he’d whispered. But then he turned, his lean back rippling with the movement, and looked at Pete with an expectant look in his eyes. Pete, his curiosity winning out, closed the distance between them and joined Vegas at the basin. When Vegas started to lift Pete’s own shirt, he made a surprised noise that had Vegas chuckling to himself. “A good alpha takes care of their omega,” he said, as if that explained his actions away. When Pete’s shocked expression didn’t abate, Vegas added, “If I don’t clean and scent you before we get in bed, the servants will be able to tell from the bedding in the morning. They’ll think we’re unsuited as a pair. Please let me do this.”

There was an urgency in Vegas’ tone that made Pete’s instincts scream at him to soothe.

“Okay, but I want to scent you too.” At that, Vegas’ eyebrow arched in surprise. Pete continued, “We’re partners in this scheme, equals. And that means that whatever you do to ‘take care’ of me, I’m going to return the gesture. You said a good alpha takes care of their omega. Would the reverse not also be true?”

Without waiting for a reply, Pete took the washcloth from Vegas’ hands and dipped it into the heated water. As he ran the cloth over Vegas’ skin, he made sure to let the scent glands at his wrist drag across the ones on Vegas’ neck. The action made Vegas’ scent turn sharp, something that had Pete’s breath catching in his throat all over again. Vegas leaned into his touch, getting closer with every pass of the cloth. It wasn’t until their proximity prevented Pete from continuing his ministrations that he realized just how far into his personal space Vegas had invaded. When he looked up, he fully expected Vegas’ eyes to be full of mirth and mischief. But instead, he found the other man’s pupils to be blown black with desire.

When Pete was finished, Vegas took the cloth from him and dropped it back in the water to soak. His hands went to the bottom hem of Pete’s shirt and deftly lifted it from his body. For a moment, Vegas just stood there, staring at Pete’s body in the golden lamplight of the room like he was committing each dip and valley to memory. Even though Vegas had seen him in various states of undress during their time in Pete’s village, Pete was sure Vegas hadn’t bothered to examine his body with any level of scrutiny. Would Vegas find him wanting? Did that even matter in their particular situation?

Pete waited with bated breath, unaccustomed to being the focus of such attention. Perhaps that was just another thing he would have to get used to during his stay in the palace. When Vegas finally grabbed the washcloth again, wringing out the excess water, Pete let out a sigh of relief. A sense of normalcy, or something close to it, fell over them as Vegas washed Pete clean. As Vegas began to rub his wrists against Pete’s neck, Pete couldn’t help the tiny moan that escaped from his mouth. Vegas merely smirked at the sound even as Pete’s ears turned a vivid shade of red in his embarrassment.

“Sorry,” Pete whispered. Vegas shook his head and took Pete’s face in his hands. He waited until Pete lifted his eyes to reply.

“You don’t have to apologize for a natural reaction like that. Our bodies are just letting us know they’re compatible; that’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

Pete nodded in agreement but couldn’t help feeling that their attraction to each other ran the risk of distracting them from their main goal, finding the perpetrators of the assassination plot. Wasn’t that far more important than how their bodies reacted to each other?

Even with that thought in his mind, Pete still found himself leaning into Vegas’ touch without making the conscious decision to do so. As he caught himself moving closer, he suddenly straightened up and put some distance between them.

“We shouldn’t–I’ll just, I’m going to make a nest now.” Vegas chuckled softly at the way Pete stumbled over his words.

As Pete started going through the various blankets the servants had provided for him to build a nest, Vegas busied himself with finding them suitable clothes to sleep in. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that he would much prefer sleeping in the nude, especially next to Pete, but he had a feeling that Pete wouldn’t appreciate that very much. He remembered from his time in the village that Pete often slept in a pha kao mah for comfort and ease. Perhaps that would be best for his first night in the palace.

Pete couldn’t help feeling that his first nest in the palace was going to be judged. If not by Vegas, then by the maids in the morning. It had to be a nest fitting of a royal couple! The blankets that had been left for his use were far more luxurious than anything Pete had ever used before. The blankets he used back home were well-worn, well-loved, and smelled of himself and Yaai. They were a family of two and the nests he’d made up to that point had reflected that. But now, now he needed to make a nest fit for the Lord Alpha’s bed!

He quietly went to work, sniffing and picking blankets that smelled the most like Vegas. Those were likely older and saw more regular use and thus would bring Vegas comfort as well. As he wove the bedding together to create a sturdy lip around the edge of the bed, Pete took care to scent each item, blending their scents together. Perhaps it was strange that Vegas’ scent had come to bring him the same level of comfort as Yaai’s did but Pete decided he was going to ignore that. He had a nest to finish after all.

After entwining some of their clothing in with the blankets, Pete stood back and admired his work. It was easily the nicest nest he’d ever made but at least some of that could be attributed to the materials. Surely the maids wouldn’t have anything negative to say about it. But would Vegas like it?

“Pete, would you rather sleep in your own pha kao mah or one of my dressing…oh, you finished it already?” Pete jumped as Vegas appeared at his side. He’d been so focused on putting the finishing touches on the nest that he hadn’t realized Vegas had returned. When he turned to face him, he could see that he’d changed into a simple loose shirt that reached his knees. In his hands were a familiar length of fabric and a similar shirt to the one he’d changed into. He stepped closer to the bed, a look of gentle awe on his features, and whispered, “I just realized, I don’t think I’ve slept in a nest since my mother was alive.” Vegas took a deep breath, taking in the way their scents had combined, and smiled at Pete. “This is good, Pete. You did good.”

The simple, truthful, words dispelled every concern Pete had about whether or not Vegas would approve of the nest he’d made. It eased the tension in his muscles with an ease that should have been alarming.

Vegas cleared his throat as he remembered the clothes in his arms.

“Anyway, I know when we were in your home, you mostly wore your pha kao mah to sleep so I wasn’t sure if you’d prefer that or one of my dressing gowns.”

Pete looked down at the garments Vegas held between them, at the familiar pattern and comfort of his own clothing and then at the light linen fabric that matched what Vegas wore.

“Which would you prefer I wear?”

“Surely you’re aware, Pete, that any alpha would rather see their omega in their own clothing, something that shows just who they belong to.”

It was on the tip of Pete’s tongue to remind Vegas that he didn’t belong to him, that they didn’t belong to each other. Any semblance of possession between them wasn’t to be taken seriously in private.

But something in Vegas’ tone made him pause in voicing that reminder out loud.

Without another word, Pete took the dressing gown.

Pete inclined his head towards the young girl waving the fan at his side. The slight breeze created by the large hand fan wasn’t enough to cool his heated skin.

When he’d awakened that morning, just like the entire week’s worth of mornings, he’d been glued to Vegas’ side.

They had agreed that it would be best for them to share the nest together for however long it took Pete to figure out who was trying to have Vegas killed, for appearances’ sake, but neither man had taken into account just how their bodies might respond to such prolonged close proximity. It didn’t matter that they would always make sure to fall asleep on opposite sides of the nest to attempt to give the other space to be comfortable, they gravitated to each other in their sleep without fail. Pete had apologized the first morning he’d awakened in Vegas’ arms. Vegas, curiously enough, didn’t seem to be too put out by the sleeping positions they’d ended up in. In fact, he’d reassured Pete once again that it was their bodies’ natural reaction to each other.

Pete couldn’t help but be a little annoyed that Vegas’ body was still causing his to have reactions beyond his control.

It wasn’t fair.

And then to top it off, for the past three days, Pete had been feeling hotter than normal. At first, he’d merely attributed it to the fact that propriety dictated the clothing he wear when in public was decidedly more conservative than what he was accustomed to. Back home in his village, it made far more sense to go around in a light pha kao mah and nothing else. But in the palace, he was expected to wear the garments of his station, a proper Omega Consort. He didn’t want to buck tradition and make Vegas look bad as a result but…

It was fucking hot!

“Consort Pete?” Pete immediately turned his attention back to the young mother knelt in front of him with her small toddler in a selendang on her back. “Lord Vegas has done much to return the province to stability after his father’s tumultuous reign. But we worried for our Lord Alpha. Without a mate at his side, who would care for him in the way he cares for his people? But when he returned from his travels with you and announced his intention to take you as his mate, we rejoiced. When we were told that you would be holding court for the palace staff, taking on the official duties of Omega Consort even before the two of you are officially mated, it filled us all with happiness. There hasn’t been a high ranking omega in the palace since Lady Kaew’s passing after the birth of Lord Macau. Your arrival is truly a blessing to us all. On behalf of myself and the rest of the palace staff, I hope you won’t hesitate to let us know if you ever need anything at all.”

Pete had decided to take on the official duties of Omega Consort early because Vegas’ subjects couldn’t find out that he and Vegas didn’t plan on actually mating. But only through his duties as Vegas’ mate could he use the position to endear himself to the staff and encourage them to bring him any concerning information that could poorly affect Vegas. Pete could use the information brought to him to build a network of trustworthy informants throughout the palace and in the homes of all the officials. If there was even a whisper of threat to Vegas or Macau, people who adored Pete for his position alone wouldn’t hesitate to come forward with it.

Pete hadn’t expected the staff to treat him with the same adoration that had been afforded to Vegas’ late mother though.

With a slight motion of his hand, the girl fanning him quickened her pace. He cleared his throat.

“I’m truly the one who is blessed in this situation. I didn’t want to wait for mine and Lord Vegas’ official mating ceremony to take place before doing whatever I could to help his people. As Omega Consort, I will do everything in my power to protect Lord Vegas just as he protects you all. If any of you come across any information that could potentially point to a threat on the Lord’s life, I urge you to bring it to me immediately.”

While Pete didn’t want to outwardly say that there was an active threat to Vegas’ life and cause alarm, he could tell that those gathered took his words to heart. It was good that Vegas was loved by the small folk. They had his back more than he would ever know.

“Of course, Consort Pete,” the staff replied in unison.

With that finished, Pete began taking individual queries. Each staff member came up one at a time, introduced themselves and what their position was in the palace, and made their requests. Pete listened intently to each one and offered any advice he could if it was applicable. If the request was something material that would make their job easier, and within Pete’s authority to grant, he did so. After each person made their request and received their resolution, they would bow and touch their forehead to Pete’s knuckles in a show of respect and trust.

Just as a young man was about to do so, there was a loud clearing of a throat at the back of the throne room. Everyone turned and gasped before lowering themselves to the floor in a kowtow.

Vegas walked through the small group of people until he reached Pete. He gave a sideways glance at the young man still kneeling in front of Pete and motioned for him to move. The man seemed to remember himself all at once and scrambled out of Vegas’ way.

“My darling Lord Alpha,” Pete looked up with a soft smile, purposely ignoring the way his skin had flushed all over again at Vegas’ entrance, “to what do we owe the pleasure of your presence?”

Vegas’ scent flared gently at Pete’s words. Pete had grown accustomed to Vegas’ scent, at the subtle changes that happened to it depending on his mood, and there was no mistaking that he’d been somewhat annoyed when he’d first walked up. But now, as he stared down at Pete, it was back to the gentle smokiness Pete knew all too well, only a tinge of possessiveness lingering at the back.

“I merely wanted to see your sweet face, teerak . And to invite you to share a midday meal with me once you’ve finished holding court for the day. Until then, Macau and I will be observing the newest batch of guards so just send for me when you’re ready. Or feel free to come fetch me yourself. I know I won’t mind seeing my future mate that much sooner.”

There was a smattering of giggles behind him as Vegas bowed low in order to press his lips to Pete’s cheek and then to his hand. All over again, Pete felt his skin heat beyond the temperature in the throne room.

Once Vegas was gone, the mother who’d spoken on behalf of the staff, who Pete had learned was named Praew, gave Pete a knowing smile.

“What?” Pete questioned. She motioned with her head to the door Vegas had exited and gave an airy laugh.

“We’ve just never seen the Lord Alpha act with such tenderness before. It’s quite sweet to see this side of him, to see him so smitten with his future mate. And you as well, why, you’re still flushed from his presence. Perhaps the Lord Alpha’s appearance has brought on Consort Pete’s heat.”

At Praew’s glib suggestion, Pete froze. He began counting back in his mind and it was certainly too soon for his heat.

“It’s months too early for that Praew. It’s just hot in here. Can we see about opening the windows and doors, get some air circulation going in here or something?”

As a few people moved to start opening the windows at the edge of the room, Praew shrugged her shoulders.

“Even so, it’s still possible for the Lord Alpha to trigger your heat. You’re to be mates after all.”

Pete shook his head at the woman’s words, willing his body to regulate its own temperature.

“But we haven’t mated yet,” Pete reminded her, and himself. “It’s not possible for an unmated pair to trigger each other’s cycle.”

Praew looked to an older woman then, as if for support, and the older woman nodded her head and replied,

“While it is true that it’s quite rare for an unbonded pair to trigger their cycles, it’s hardly impossible, Consort Pete. And if the pair is exceptionally compatible with each other, well that just makes it all the more possible.”

There was that word again: compatible . That word was going to be the death of Pete’s already frayed sanity. He knew all too well how his body and senses reacted when Vegas was near. He’d been in near constant contact with the man for nearly a month before they’d returned to the palace and he’d been sharing a nest with him for the past week! Vegas’ presence had already wrought havoc on his emotions to the point that he had to actively remind himself to not let said emotions cloud his judgement. Regardless of what his body wanted, he had one job and that was to find out who was trying to kill Vegas.

His cycle didn’t get a say in that!

“Still,” Pete hedged, “I’m sure it’s just this fabric. In my village, I’m much more accustomed to lightweight textiles.”

But then, as if his body sought to undermine him on purpose, Pete doubled over as a sharp pain shot through his abdomen.

***

Vegas looked out over the training grounds at the palace guards, suspicion hidden beneath the discernment in his gaze.

He knew that at least a few of the guards, other than Ken, had been appointed during his father’s reign. How many of them were like Ken, using their position as a guard to feed information to his enemies? To traitors who wanted him dead simply for having the desire to use his rule to better the lives of his people? Something that any ruler should want!

He was on edge and he knew it.

But it wasn’t merely the knowledge of the traitors in his midst that had his mind working overtime. The other reason he was on edge was wholly due to the man he’d left behind in the throne room amongst the throng of supporters.

Ever since their first night sharing the nest, Vegas had been reluctant to leave Pete’s side. Waking up with Pete in his arms had given him the strongest sensation of peace and perfection he’d felt in his life. He’d wanted to snap at the maids who came to rouse them the next morning simply because their presence meant he would need to separate from Pete for even a moment in order to get up and get dressed for the day.

Every day since then, he’d tried his best to keep Pete close throughout the day. He’d used the excuse that Pete needed to come with him in order to see the day to day governing that Vegas took part in and to meet as many people as possible. If Pete got even a whiff of that pheromone he’d smelled on Ken that was the start of this entire ‘fake relationship’ nonsense, Vegas wanted to know as soon as possible. Pete had gone along with it easily enough, keeping a mental list of officials and palace staff to be wary of because of their scent.

Granted, it wasn’t a perfect system. Just because the pheromone was present in their scent didn’t necessarily mean they were a part of the group plotting his demise but it did mean that they potentially had something to hide which was good to know about either way. Someone with something to hide could possibly be blackmailed and Vegas needed to know who could be used against him just as much as he needed to know who was behind the plot.

The problem with keeping the omega near as part of their ruse was that Vegas had already begun seeing Pete as his omega. Just like he’d wanted to snap at the maids for daring to separate them in order to do their jobs, Vegas wanted to growl at anyone who got too close to the man. If someone looked at Pete too long with anything even vaguely resembling interest, Vegas would get a longing to sink his teeth into Pete’s neck to officially mark him once and for all. His skin felt too tight on his body whenever Pete wasn’t in his immediate line of sight. He was positively possessive!

That was the only excuse he could come up with for why he’d interrupted Pete while he’d been holding court with the palace staff. Vegas had originally only planned to look in on the throne room to soothe his own nerves at not being able to see Pete. But when he’d peeked into the meeting and he’d seen one of the tailor’s apprentices about to kiss Pete’s hand, his body had been instantly taken over with the need to claim !

Vegas had just managed to unclench his fists when Macau walked up.

“Okay hia, I’ve looked over Nop and Non’s recommendations for P’Pete’s personal guard and I think their cousin Noey is the best choice. She trained with them as a child and is one of the best fighters we…” Macau trailed off as he took a deep inhale. After a second, he chuckled to himself and shook his head.

“What?” Vegas questioned his brother, not in the mood for jokes. Macau’s shoulders shook with his attempt to stifle his laughter.

“You know, hia, ever since we brought P’Pete back home with us, you’ve smelled…well let’s just say there’s been a particular intensity to your scent for the past week now. But now, I’m picking up notes of irritation. Which wouldn’t necessarily be indicative of anything with you considering you go through life at least mildly annoyed at most things.”

Vegas sighed and rolled his eyes. “If you have a point, nong, I suggest you make it because at the moment, you’re the main source of my annoyance.”

Macau returned Vegas’ eyeroll with one of his own and replied, “In addition to the irritation in your scent, now there’s a distinct smell of possessiveness that’s only been getting stronger all week long.” When Vegas only pursed his lips in response, Macau scoffed with exasperation. “Hia, you smell horny, annoyed, and possessive. You’re obviously going into rut.”

Vegas’ eyes went wide at his nong’s matter-of-fact declaration.

“Macau, I’m three months away from my next rut. That’s not what’s happening here.” Macau’s brow immediately arched at Vegas’ attempted deflection.

“Really hia? Because you’ve been sharing a nest with an omega for a week now, an omega you’re actively attempting to court while also pretending to already be in a relationship with said omega. You’ve been moody whenever P’Pete wasn’t within arm’s reach. Yaai heard the maids gossiping about how they have to practically peel you off of him in the mornings. Not to mention the death glare you give anybody who gets close to Phi. If it’s not the onset of your rut, I would like to personally challenge you to find another explanation to both your behavior and your scent.”

Vegas started to refute his brother’s claims only to bite his tongue when no better explanation formed itself in his mind.

“Shit,” he whispered, mostly to himself, “I need to talk to Pete.”

As he walked away, in the direction of the throne room once again, Macau cheekily called out,

“I guess I’ll stay here to oversee the rest of the guards’ training then!”

Vegas felt itchy as he made his way back through the palace from the training grounds. Macau was right, despite the timing. Nothing else could explain the way he’d been feeling lately, feelings that only seemed to settle once Pete was in his arms where he belonged.

His rut had to have been triggered by Pete but it didn’t make sense. He’d only ever heard of mated couples triggering cycles ahead of time. Despite the way he wanted nothing more than to put his mark on Pete’s neck, the fact remained that they were decidedly not mated.

And since they weren’t mated, the idea of asking Pete spend his rut with him would certainly be an egregious overstep of whatever boundaries they still had. That wasn’t the sort of pressure Pete had agreed to be put under when he’d left his village behind to play the part of Consort to the Lord Alpha.

But the thought of spending his rut with anyone other than Pete made Vegas’ mind reel in visceral disgust.

As he passed the kitchens, lost in his thoughts, he nearly collided with Healer Arm.

“Lord Vegas, I apologize. I assume you’re on your way to see Consort Pete as well.” Vegas grabbed the man’s free arm, the one not carrying the apothecary bag he kept with him at all times, and hauled him back.

“What do you mean ‘as well’? Why are you going to see Pete? What’s happened?”

The healer adjusted his glasses on his face and bowed his head.

“My Lord, I was summoned to the throne room by one of the staff present when Consort Pete was holding court. They said that he just collapsed in pain.” Vegas almost screamed that he should have been summoned immediately but Arm held up a placating palm. “Someone was on their way to the training grounds to fetch you as well but they found me first. I assumed they had already found you and that you were heading to the same destination.”

“Then what are you waiting for? Go,” Vegas roared.

All thoughts of his impending rut leached out of his mind as he sprinted towards the throne room. Arm kept pace easily enough but Vegas didn’t even care. His mate had collapsed in pain! Had he been poisoned? Had their enemies realized he was working to uncover their plot and sought to take him out of the picture before he had the chance to ruin their plans? Was he simply sick from the drastic lifestyle change he’d undergone in the past few weeks?

He had to be okay!

Vegas burst into the throne room with Arm hot on his heels. His eyes instantly zeroed in on Pete, hunched over next to the throne and clutching his abdomen.

“Pete!” His worried shout caused the people around the omega to step back as he crossed the room. “What happened?”

Before anyone could attempt to offer an explanation, Pete’s voice cut through the air with a pained,

“ Alpha !”

Vegas knelt down beside Pete, somewhat surprised when the man immediately tucked himself close. Pete’s scent was flooded with distress and Vegas could only think to grab at the gland on his wrist in effort to soothe away the feeling.

“I’m here teerak , what’s happening?”

As he rubbed gentle circles into Pete’s wrist with his thumb, the omega’s teary eyes cleared slightly. When Pete looked up at him, Vegas felt a jolt of desire rush through him that almost had him collapsing on the floor right next to him.

“Vegas, it hurts,” Pete whispered. “Too soon, impossible.”

“Arm, get over here now,” Vegas called out behind him, confused as to why the healer hadn’t already joined him at Pete’s side.

As Arm finally took up a position on Pete’s other side, Vegas could see he had a vial of liquid in his hand.

“My Lord, I need you to hold his head up. This will counteract any common poison he’s been given but he needs to drink the entire bottle.”

Vegas, in his rush to turn Pete over so he could take the medicine in Arm’s hand, brushed his palm against Pete’s neck. As soon as his hand touched the heated gland, Pete let out a pained moan followed by a gasp. Suddenly, the sweet scent of oranges filled the immediate area.

Arm’s hand froze in midair and Vegas knew that he smelled it too.

The top note of Pete’s natural scent was oranges. And there was only one reason the top note of an omega’s scent would suddenly become so prevalent.

Without needing to feel for the tell-tale moisture, Vegas knew Pete had just produced a copious amount of slick.

“Oh thank the stars,” Arm sighed in relief. Vegas’ eyes went wide at the man.

“What is that supposed to mean?” The healer appeared confused at Vegas’ confusion and replied gently,

“It means Consort Pete hasn’t been poisoned. He’s merely beginning his heat. That’s nothing to worry about. You’re here after all, Lord Alpha.”

Suddenly, Pete’s pained whispers of “too soon” and “impossible” made sense. If Pete thought it was too soon for his heat, was it actually possible that they’d managed to trigger each other’s cycles in only a week’s time of sharing a nest? Were their bodies that well matched?

He looked back down at Pete to see him staring up at him with a somewhat dazed expression.

“Pete? Are you still in pain? Do you understand that your heat is starting?” Pete nodded his head slowly as the flush deepened in his cheeks.

“I didn’t think it was possible since we aren’t mated. But when you touched my scent gland, the pain subsided almost completely.”

“Lord Vegas, perhaps the two of you should retire to your chambers while you’re both still lucid,” Arm reasoned. “If my nose is correct, it would appear as though you have perhaps an hour at most before your rut begins in earnest, my Lord. That window of time is no doubt shortened by your immediate proximity to each other. I’ll ensure the rest of the staff know you aren’t to be disturbed.”

Pete stayed silent as they made their way from the throne room to their chambers. As soon as the doors closed and he was inundated with their combined scents, a whimper escaped his mouth.

“Pete,” Vegas whispered, “did you hear what the healer said in the throne room?”

“About your rut? Yeah, I heard.”

Vegas went to remove his hand from Pete’s scent gland so they could have a conversation but Pete’s hands went to his in an instant, holding it in place.

“Please, don’t let me go just yet. If I have to feel that stabbing pain again, I won’t be able to hold a conversation that we need to have before we lose all of our senses.” Vegas nodded and kept his hand on Pete’s neck, covering his scent gland.

“So, considering we’re both going to be going through our cycles at the same time, it would make sense for us to spend it together.” At Vegas’ words, a fresh trickle of slick streaked down Pete’s thighs. Vegas couldn’t help the sharp inhale that he took in reaction. But the shame he saw on Pete’s face in response had him second-guessing himself. “But, I would understand if you would prefer to spend it alone.”

Suddenly, Pete’s eyes took on a steely anger he wasn’t prepared for.

“Oh so I would be left alone to deal with this while my alpha fucks some bedwarmer,” Pete clipped out with a harsh tone.

The mood change was so abrupt that Vegas had to blink back his surprise. He’d hoped, of course, that Pete would feel even a modicum of the possessiveness that he felt but he never imagined it to be true.

“Of course not, omega ,” Vegas said as he dug the pads of his fingers into Pete’s neck. “I would spend my rut alone before I brought another person into our nest.” He watched as his words landed in Pete’s mind, his reassurance that he wouldn’t leave Pete to suffer through his heat alone coupled with the understanding that he saw the nest Pete had built for them was just that, for them . No one else.

After a few seconds, Pete cleared his throat. His breathing was heavy as he spoke.

“If we spend it separately, people would find out. They might begin to question the validity of our relationship.” Vegas wanted nothing more than to encourage Pete down that particular line of thinking but before he could agree, Pete stepped closer until his forehead touched Vegas’. “I’m here for a specific mission, a specific purpose, and now there’s all these confusing feelings involved. Aren’t you worried that if we do this, we’ll get distracted from finding the people trying to kill you?”

Just hearing Pete admit that there were feelings involved at all made Vegas’ heart soar. Knowing just that little tidbit of information made his mind up for him.

He cupped Pete’s cheek with the hand not on his neck and made him meet his gaze. With a soft smile on his face, Vegas answered.

“Pete, my omega, when it comes to you, I’m not confused about my feelings.”

The distance between them disappeared in a split second as their lips met. They both gasped into the kiss before it deepened.

By the time they made it into the bedroom, there was a trail of clothing left in their wake. Vegas gently pushed Pete into the nest before climbing in after him. Pete grabbed at his chest, at his waist, at his neck, at whatever he could reach until Vegas gathered his wrists in one hand and lifted them above his head to press into the mattress. Pete went still in an instant as a new rush of slick soaked the blankets under him. Vegas smirked even as his erection bumped against Pete’s.

“Do you want to be held down, omega?” he rasped against Pete’s throat. “I could tie you up, keep you full of my seed until you’re bursting with it, would you like that?” At his words, Pete pulled his legs up and locked his ankles around Vegas’ waist.

“Inside,” Pete moaned, “do whatever you want to me, but I need you inside now !”

Pete had been through heats before. The discomfort and pain, the high-strung emotions, none of that was new. But he’d never felt so frantic before, like if he didn’t get Vegas’ knot in the next few seconds, he might actually go insane.

He hated it.

He loved it.

“Okay teerak ,” Vegas’ voice was like a balm to his already frayed nerves, “just relax. I’ve got what you need.”

Pete gasped as Vegas pushed into his body with ease, the slick he’d already produced made it so that any resistance his body might have offered was ephemeral at best. Vegas sank in to the base of his knot, already swelling with his need to be locked inside Pete to properly fill him up, and growled as Pete raked his nails down his chest.

Thunder suddenly vibrated the palace walls as a storm began to rage outside. It was the perfect contradiction to the instant sense of tranquility that settled at the base of Vegas’ spine each time he sank into the home Pete offered of his body. Everything went fuzzy until Vegas’ sole focus was the perfect omega in his arms.

Pete had never spent his heat with anyone before, had never really even considered the idea of spending such a vulnerable time with another person. So it came as a complete surprise that he couldn’t tell the difference between the rumblings of the weather outside and the tremors of his own body as Vegas continued to slam into him. He hadn’t known that sex, let alone heat sex , could feel so all-encompassing. His vision had zeroed in on Vegas until the rest of the room, the world, faded away.

Nothing mattered but the man and the knot bumping against his rim, just waiting to catch hold and lock them both together.

“Vegas, alpha ,” Pete moaned as another wave of slick rushed out around Vegas’ cock, “your knot, please I just need your knot.” Vegas silenced Pete’s pleas with a harsh kiss that stole his breath. Even so, he quickened the speed of his thrusts.

Just when his knot almost caught for a second time, only to be pulled back yet again, Pete let out a feral growl and reached down to Vegas’ ass to try and urge him back inside. Vegas’ chuffed a breathless laugh against his cheek at his impatience.

“Just a little more, Pete. I don’t want to hurt you.”

Pete shoved at Vegas’ shoulders in response. As Vegas rose up in shock that Pete was suddenly pushing him away, Pete took advantage and rolled them. With their positions swapped, Pete sank down against Vegas’ knot.

“I don’t care if it hurts,” he cried. “Need…your knot!”

On the last word, Pete pushed through the sting and finally, finally , felt their bodies lock together. The climax was instant, flooding through his body with the same intensity as the lightning in the sky. His body clenched mercilessly around Vegas’ cock, around his knot, and dragged the alpha into the abyss of pleasure right along with him.

The minutes went by as Vegas made good on his promise to fill Pete up. Pete could feel the man’s seed rushing inside him and with it, a sense of clarity.

Pete looked down at Vegas and realized what he’d done.

Most alphas didn’t like being ridden, or any other sexual position that didn’t put them ‘on top’. It went against their ‘dominant’ nature. At least that’s what Pete had always been told throughout his life. Surely Vegas, the Lord Alpha, wouldn’t appreciate what Pete had done now that the throes of passion had somewhat calmed.

“I’m sorry,” Pete whispered, even as he could feel Vegas still pulsing inside him. At least his cock didn’t seem to be offended.

Vegas stared up at Pete with a combination of awe and lust as the aftershocks continued. Then, all at once, he seemed to come back to himself and register Pete’s apology. At that, he shook his head and rose up, keeping Pete in place in his lap both with his knot and his arms.

“Don’t apologize for taking what you needed,” he breathed against Pete’s chest. Pete shuddered as his lips ghosted over a taut nipple. “Especially when that’s the result.” As if to further punctuate his statement, Vegas’ knot suddenly throbbed inside Pete, making them both gasp at the tightness. “Fuck, you were practically feral when you put me on my back. So beautiful, Pete, you have no idea.”

Pete didn’t know what to do with being called beautiful and feral in the same breath.

But his body didn’t seem to have the same problem.

Vegas met his kiss with equal ferocity, sucking and biting at his lips and tongue with an abandon that only served to remind them both they had yet to reach the height of their cycles.

They were only just beginning.

When Vegas’ knot went down enough to slip from Pete’s rim, Pete couldn’t help the whine he let out as he felt some of Vegas’ spend slowly dripping out of him.

That wasn’t supposed to happen. That was his ! His alpha had given that to him!

The frantic feeling started to come back the moment Vegas wasn’t inside him. His alpha wasn’t inside him and that was profoundly wrong and he needed to do whatever it took to fix that. Unthinking, Pete shifted onto the bedding beside Vegas and pressed his face against the blankets. With his ass in the air, in presentation, he began to mewl until Vegas got on his knees behind him.

“Ready for me again? Already?”

Pete nodded, trying to angle his hips so that he wouldn’t lose any more of Vegas’ seed than had already trailed down his thighs.

“Please, Alpha,” Pete practically purred.

Vegas had never been more grateful for the fact that his rut made it so that his erection never fully flagged, even so soon after having just climaxed. He didn’t need any kind of refractory period before being ready to sink into his beautiful, willing, omega yet again. And he wouldn’t need it for the duration of their shared cycle. It would allow him to continue satisfying Pete’s insatiable need for a knot without fail until they both came out of it on the other side.

“Since you asked so sweetly, how can I deny you?”

It was hours later when exhaustion finally caught up to them. Pete drifted off to sleep on Vegas’ chest, having flipped them yet again now that he knew Vegas didn’t mind the position. Vegas took a deep breath as Pete clenched around him in his sleep. His knot hadn’t gone down before Pete had fallen asleep so the man had collapsed on him while Vegas had been actively ejaculating inside him.

While Pete dozed, Vegas let his fingers drift over the bruises he’d left on the man’s skin. When he pressed on them out of curiosity, Pete didn’t flinch away. He actually nuzzled closer, tucked his nose further into Vegas’ neck, and sighed in contentment.

Even if Vegas hadn’t already known he was done for when it came to his unofficial Consort, spending their cycles together only served to cement that knowledge.

***

For two days straight, they did little else except fuck, eat, sleep. Sometimes, two of those would overlap. When they would share in moments of lucidity, usually right after climaxing together, they were able to have brief conversations about everything and nothing. Their families, their favorite foods, their vastly different childhoods.

Before, there had been heat and lust caused by the convergence of their cycles. But now, days later, whenever their bodies came together, there was an intimacy, a sense of knowing the other beyond the mere physical level, a sense of home.

***

At the three day mark, they were well and truly at the pinnacle. Vegas’ possessiveness that he’d felt at the beginning of his rut was nothing in comparison to the avarice that had begun to encompass his mind at the thought of not being connected to Pete at every moment. Even with his knot locking them together, it wasn’t close enough. He needed to be a part of Pete, inside him at all times, never letting go. Vegas needed their very souls to combine into one.

It really shouldn’t have come as a surprise to him when his teeth sank into Pete’s scent gland as he spasmed inside him. The tissue scarred over almost immediately as his tongue licked it over to seal the wound left behind, the mating bite .

The moment Vegas realized what he’d done, his breathing quickened with spiraling thoughts. Pete hadn’t asked to be mated to him. Pete wouldn’t want to be mated to him. He’d barely been able to court Pete before they’d managed to trigger their cycles. And now Vegas had bound them together! Had he just ruined everything?

He watched as Pete lifted his hand to his neck in shock, feeling at the scar his teeth had left behind. An apology was on Vegas’ lips, a plea for Pete to give him a chance to truly be his alpha, to let him take care of him, provide for him, love him.

But before he could voice any of that, Pete just looked at him with a tiny blissful smile on his face, and then leaned forward.

Pete’s teeth were buried in his neck before another terrible thought could form in his mind. Vegas gasped as the man sucked at his skin with the same ferocity that had been present in all of his kisses. As he pressed the flat of his tongue over the skin to allow it to scar, a sense of peace Vegas had never imagined, never thought possible, settled over him. The possessiveness from before was still there but it was no longer one-sided.

Pete nosed at the raised skin before giggling out a happy but tired,

“Alpha.”

His eyelids fluttered closed then as he fell back on the bed, exhaustion winning out yet again.

Vegas stared at him for a moment before laying down next to him. Immediately, Pete nestled himself into Vegas’ side. As Pete’s chest began to vibrate with his contentment, Vegas brushed his hair back from his face and smiled.

“Omega,” he whispered, the word full of intent.

***

On the fifth day, Vegas awakened sore but sated. The urgency that had been ever present beneath his skin for the past week was nowhere to be found. Pete’s slick had slowed back to a more baseline level the previous night, no longer flooding him and their nest with the insistence of his heat.

They had made it through their first cycle together, but not necessarily unscathed. The matching mating bites were proof of that.

After mating, they’d both become even more insatiable, not even bothering to separate in between rounds to ensure that Pete stayed filled to the brim the entire time. They had yet to really talk about what had happened, preferring to let their bodies do all the communicating for them.

As Pete began to stir, Vegas was drawn from his thoughts by the man’s scent.

Something was different.

The bottom notes, the smokier ones that matched the top of his own, were far more pronounced. Vegas narrowed his eyes as he stared at Pete’s drowsy form.

While it was true that couples often began smelling like each other, or at least more similar to each other, once they were mated, that usually didn’t start happening for months after the mating bond had sealed. Vegas knew his and Pete’s scents were already complementary, practically the reverse of each other, but they had only been mated for two days.

Pete’s scent was already changing.

And he’d only ever heard of one other thing causing that kind of change that fast.

Chapter Text

“You witnessed this yourself? Or was the information shared with you secondhand?”

Erika inclined her head towards the younger woman at her side, Praew, and replied,

“Khun Ratsami, my daughter and I both witnessed it. We had just finished eating the lunch she’d brought for me in my quarters behind the armory. I was about to put my grandson down for a nap when we heard a commotion outside.”

Praew nodded her head in agreement.

“We both saw Tawan arguing with the bodyguard Ken. Tawan said that Ken had obviously fallen out of favor with Lord Vegas since returning to the palace and that if he didn’t find a way back into the Lord’s good graces, he was useless to their cause. He said that his father would be forced to reconsider his worth if Ken could no longer be trusted to provide information on Lord Vegas’ movements.”

Ratsami nodded thoughtfully at Praew’s statement. Her mother, Erika, was the palace armorer and thus a very trusted member of the staff. Lord Vegas and Lord Macau’s guards, Nop and Non, had attested to her trustworthiness to both Pete and herself upon their introduction to the palace staff. Pete trusted the twin guards and their judgement so Ratsami did the same.

In the days since her grandson and the Lord Alpha had retreated to their chambers to go through their cycles together, Yaai Ratsami had taken to her position as Pete’s second-in-command quite well. Pete had instructed the staff to bring him anything of import and, in his absence, many had seen the benefit of bringing their information to her directly. The elderly woman had spent the last couple of days filtering through the intelligence she’d gathered on her own and what had been provided to her. She’d hoped to have something concrete to present to her grandson once he and his betrothed emerged once again.

Erika’s and Praew’s information was just that.

“Thank you for bringing this to me. I’ll make sure my grandson is made aware and the two of you are compensated accordingly.” At that, both women shook their heads.

“Khun Yaai, we don’t offer this information in the hope of compensation,” Praew said. “We lived directly under the rule of the previous Lord Alpha and can personally attest to the improvement brought to our lives through the ascension of Lord Vegas. Anyone seeking to harm the current Lord Alpha seeks to place people like us back under the thumb of terror. I want better for my son, for everyone. Consort Pete has assured us that he wants to protect the Lord Alpha; therefore my mother and I, and many more just like us, are willing to do whatever it takes to ensure the protection and safety of both the Lord Alpha and Omega Consort.”

Erika cleared her throat before leaning forward slightly to whisper,

“Ken spends much of his time on the training grounds with the other lower ranking guards. He’ll be easy enough for me to keep an eye on. If he meets with Khun Napapon’s son again, or anyone else, I’ll inform either yourself or Consort Pete as soon as possible. Praew’s mate, Ohm, is a tailor and often called upon by Khun Napapon for various garments. He’s also assured us that he will be more than willing to share anything he comes across in his dealings with the man or his family.”

Ratsami couldn’t help but be pleased with the people’s apparent loyalty to Lord Vegas, and that that loyalty seemed to extend to her grandson.

Before she could reply, there was a knock on the door of the office she shared with Pete. Lord Vegas had insisted that the two of them would need a base of operations for their work so he’d had the room across from his own offices converted into one for their use.

As the door opened a crack, the unmistakable scent of an alpha fresh out of their rut wafted into the room. When the door opened fully, the Lord Alpha stood there. It was clear that he hadn’t been expecting anyone else to be in the office with Yaai.

“Lord Vegas,” Ratsami smiled at the man, at her other grandson for all intents and purposes, and beckoned him forward. As he stepped further into the office, she immediately noticed the mark on his neck and stifled a gasp. Perhaps hers and the youngest lord’s further matchmaking plans wouldn’t be necessary after all. Macau’s idea to have them share chambers seemed to have worked in their favor.

Erika and Praew took one look at the mark on the Lord’s neck and shared a happy smile before bowing in exit from the room.

Vegas took a deep breath as the other women left, leaving him alone with his mate’s grandmother.

“Khun Yaai,” Vegas spoke, but Ratsami waved her hand, cutting him off.

“Young man, we are alone here. I think we can drop the formalities. Just Yaai is fine. After all,” Ratsami motioned to his neck with a grin, “it would seem we are truly family now.” Vegas blushed, actually blushed , at Yaai’s acknowledgement of the mark her grandson had left on him. “Then I trust my Pete has one that matches, hmm?”

Vegas nodded as his hand went to the raised scar on his scent gland.

“We didn’t mean for it to happen,” he whispered, the memory of that beautiful moment still fresh in his mind. “But I don’t regret it. I hope Pete doesn’t either. He’s been rubbing his mark in his sleep so I think that’s a good sign.”

That caused the older woman to pause, confused.

“You haven’t spoken to each other about it yet? Where is my grandson?”

“He’s still resting in our chambers. I think sharing cycles took a lot out of him. I thought it would be best to let him sleep some more. Especially if what I think has happened has truly happened.”

Yaai leaned back in her chair, tilting her head in curiosity.

“Stop speaking in riddles, dear boy. Other than mating each other, what else do you think has happened?”

Vegas took a deep breath, remembering with ease the way Pete’s scent had taken on his top notes so soon after sharing their cycles.

“Towards the end of our cycle, after we had already mated, I noticed a change in Pete’s scent. I know that it’s common for mated pairs’ scents to become mingled over time but the change in Pete’s happened in days. I only know of one reason for an omega’s scent to change that rapidly. I was wondering if, possibly, you might be aware of any other reason.”

As the meaning of Vegas’ words connected in her mind, Yaai let out a happy gasp before quickly clasping her hand over her mouth.

“A baby? You think Pete is pregnant.”

Vegas shrugged his shoulders and sank into the seat in front of Pete’s/Yaai’s desk.

“That’s why I’m asking if you know of any other reason. Because as soon as our cycles ended, Pete smelled more like me than he did before. And I know that Pete didn’t come here with any intention of mating me. I’m trying to court him and he thinks everything I’m doing is part of this facade we concocted up. Now, after sharing one cycle together, not only are we mated but there’s possibly a baby involved? Even if he’s okay with the fact that we marked each other unplanned, how is he going to react to carrying my child?”

Yaai walked around the desk and gathered the Lord Alpha in her embrace, releasing her own comforting pheromones into the room. As a beta, hers wouldn’t be quite as effective as an omega’s would be but she couldn’t help it. Even before the man had mated her grandson, she’d come to view the two young lords as her own, just as she viewed Pete. Any comfort she could offer would be theirs to take.

Vegas wrapped his arms around the woman’s waist, hugging her as the weight of his predicament rested on his shoulders.

“Everything will be fine,” she whispered to him in a soothing tone. “My Pete has a good head on his shoulders, and now he has a good mate at his side. The two of you will figure it out. But, in order to do that, I think there’s a few things you need to discuss with each other. And soon .”

Vegas nodded in agreement.

He needed to speak to his mate.

***

“And now we wait,” Healer Arm said as he flipped the small hourglass on the table. He couldn’t help noting that the Omega Consort was a bit pale. That was to be understood considering he was barely a day out of his heat, and freshly mated by the looks of it. That made Arm smile. Even as he watched, Pete’s hand went up to touch the mark, almost as an afterthought, as though he was taking comfort in it without even realizing he was doing so. “Congratulations, by the way, Consort Pete.”

Pete looked up at the man and immediately dropped his hand from his neck.

When he’d awakened to an empty bed, and a mating bite on his neck, he’d panicked at first. Had his Alpha left him? But the bed had still been warm to the touch, indicating Vegas hadn’t been gone very long. Pete had rolled his eyes at his own nonsensical thoughts. Vegas was a Lord, he had things to do, a province to run. Just because they’d mated during their lust-induced haze of a shared cycle didn’t necessarily mean that their relationship was anything more than what it had been before.

It was possible to remove mating bites, painful and arduous, but possible. Would Vegas want to get rid of theirs? It didn’t matter that Pete could vividly remember that it had been Vegas to bite him first. He could easily blame it on the heightened emotions of sharing a heat and rut together, on the compatibility of their bodies taking over his senses, on any number of things that didn’t include actually wanting to be mated to him.

Pete hated that the idea of Vegas not wanting him made him feel sick. He wasn’t in the throes of his heat anymore. His emotions should have been back to normal. But the very thought of Vegas not wanting to remain mated to him sent his mind into a tailspin. And that mental tailspin seemed to extend to his stomach.

So Pete had called for the healer in hopes that he could give him something to calm his stomach but Arm had taken one look at him, and one inhale, and had started preparing some sort of test. 

After relieving himself into a small glass Arm had given him, Pete sat back down on the edge of the bed, somewhat annoyed that the man had yet to give him anything for his roiling stomach.

Just as the final grains of sand in the hourglass fell, the liquid in the glass changed from yellow to a dark blue. Pete stared wide-eyed at the glass while Arm clapped his hands.

“Just as I suspected, Consort Pete. It would appear congratulations are doubly in order now!”

“Why? What are you talking about? I just wanted you to give me something for my nausea but you’ve got me peeing in glasses and then mixing stuff into it. Why did it turn blue?” Pete was about two seconds away from knocking the healer’s spectacles from his face out of annoyance.

“It turned blue because you are pregnant. That is why congratulations are doubly in order.”

Pete cocked his head at the word. Surely he’d misheard the man.

“So it’s true then?”

Both men looked up as the new voice echoed from the doorway to the bedroom. Pete stared at Vegas, at his brand new mate, from across the room, and gasped softly.

“Ah, Lord Vegas,” Arm happily greeted the man and stood, packing up his apothecary bag as he went, “I assume you detected the change in Consort Pete’s scent as I did. The results of my test are conclusive and it would appear that he is with child. Oh, here are some ginger drops for the nausea. I’ll have more prepared and sent up. Congratulations, my Lord Alpha, Omega Consort. I’ll take my leave now.”

As Arm quickly left the room, Pete felt his breath hasten as Vegas stepped closer to him.

“Pete? Are you okay?” Vegas watched as Pete’s eyes darted all over the room, anywhere but on him. At the same time, he began speaking in a low, somewhat frantic voice that Vegas assumed was meant more for himself than anything else.

“ Pregnant ? I can’t be pregnant. Alpha probably doesn’t even want to be mated. He doesn’t want a baby . My baby will be a bastard if Alpha doesn’t want us.”

Hearing that made Vegas take Pete by the shoulders and gently shake him. He knew he couldn’t let Pete continue along that line of thinking in the slightest.

“Pete, teerak , listen to me. Okay? Are you listening?” Pete looked up at Vegas with watery eyes but nodded his head. “First of all, we’re mated now, and still technically betrothed. So this child won’t be a bastard in the slightest. Second, of course I want you. I wouldn’t have put that mark on your neck if I didn’t.”

Pete shook his head and took a shaky breath.

“That’s just because of our cycle. I’m not stupid enough to believe that you would have marked me, or let me mark you back, if we’d both been in our right minds.”

At that, Vegas knelt on the floor between Pete’s legs and stared up at him imploringly.

“I’m not in rut now, and you’re not in heat,” Vegas pointed out. “Regardless of whether or not we meant to mate each other, it’s done and I don’t want to take it back. Do you?” Pete hesitated for just a second before his head started shaking all on its own. “Okay then, we’re mates now. No going back. And far as the baby is concerned, do you want to undo that?” Instinctively, Pete’s arms curled around his abdomen in a protective manner. Vegas smiled softly at the motion. His omega was already protecting their child and he’d just found out about it. “I’ll take that as a ‘no’. Do you think that I don’t want the baby?”

Pete let out a shaky breath over the question.

“Over a month ago, you travelled to my village for the exclusive purpose of ending our betrothal because you had no interest in taking a mate so early in your reign. Why would I then think you had any interest in having a child with a mate you didn’t want in the first place?”

Vegas couldn’t really fault Pete’s logic.

But when he thought about a baby that was half of each of them, a baby with Pete’s dimples and his cheekbones, his heart felt like it was going to burst from his chest with wanting.

“A lot has changed since then,” Vegas replied, causing Pete to look at him with something akin to hope in his eyes. “A lot has changed since I met you , Pete. And yeah, maybe I didn’t intend to take a mate or start a family right now, especially considering there are people actively trying to kill me, but destiny seems to have other plans. Plans that I’m in no position to question, because they led me to you.”

At that, Pete rolled his eyes with a soft scoff.

“Our fathers making idiotic decisions is what led you to me, not destiny,” he muttered. Vegas reached up and turned Pete’s head back to him. He wanted to make sure the man, his mate, heard him loud and clear.

“My father could have burned that betrothal contract as soon as the ink was dry. Your father could have killed you in a drunken rage before you were able to fight back. They could have never come into contact with each other at all. We could have never come into contact with each other at all. But that’s not what happened. We’re here, mated and expecting a baby, while they both died hated and alone. You’re gonna tell me that’s not fate?”

Pete rested his hands on Vegas’ wrists as sure thumbs wiped tears from his face. Surely it was far too soon for pregnancy hormones to already be messing with his emotions, right?

Perhaps, since male omega pregnancies usually only lasted six or seven months, the hormonal changes started sooner. Pete realized he was going to have to have an educational talk with Yaai or Arm, possibly both, before his pregnancy advanced much further along.

“What if I can’t figure out who’s trying to kill you and they succeed? I can’t do this on my own.”

That brought Vegas pause. If he were to die before the baby was born, Pete would suddenly be unmated and with little legal recourse to prove the child’s parentage should their enemies try to dispute it.

But there was one definitive way; a way that would guarantee both Pete and their baby protection should the assassins manage to complete their plan and usurp his position.

“Marry me.”

At Vegas’ suggestion, Pete’s eyes went wide and he shoved Vegas’ hands away from his face.

“Excuse me! Have you lost your mind? How is that supposed to help anything?”

Vegas caught himself before he fell backwards, taking Pete’s hands in his own and holding them up between them.

“If we marry, you and our child will be legally recognized as members of the Theerapanyakul family. If something happens to me, Macau wouldn’t let anything happen to you or Yaai. And if, gods forbid, something happens to Macau, my family in Bangkok would take you all in. We care for our own. If I die and your mating mark fades, us having been legally married will guarantee that my family will grant protections to the three of you. I will find you in our next life knowing that I did everything I could to keep you safe in this one.”

Pete blinked back more tears. The fact that Vegas was willing to legally tie himself to Pete, in addition to the physical tie they shared through their mating bites, simply to make sure that Pete and their baby were cared for in the event of his death was astounding. Just knowing that he wanted to put things in place like that made Pete even more determined to discover everyone involved in the plot to assassinate his mate and put an end to their machinations once and for all.

Vegas wasn’t going to die by some shadowy hand. Not if Pete had anything to say about it. He would bring them all to light if it was the last thing he did!

“Okay,” he whispered, a determined edge to his voice. Vegas looked up, somewhat confused at the single word on his mate’s lips.

“Okay?”

Pete nodded and placed a hand on his abdomen.

“I’ll marry you. Alpha wants to protect us this way, so I’ll do it. But I’m not going to let anything happen to you. I don’t care about our next life, Vegas. I want this one, with you .”

As Pete’s words sank in, Vegas let out a tiny bubble of laughter. Suddenly, it didn’t matter that there were people banking on his destruction. It didn’t matter that he’d never meant to take a mate or start a family. It didn’t matter that the only references either of them had for fatherhood were some of the poorest excuses for humans in existence.

No, all that mattered was that his omega wanted a life with him.

That thought kept bouncing around in his mind as he leaned forward and pressed his head to Pete’s stomach, curling his arms around his mate’s waist to keep him close.

They could figure everything else out together.

***

Macau was pretty sure he’d never run so fast in his life as he turned the corner and barrelled into Yaai’s and Pete’s office without bothering to knock.

“Yaai! Yaai, you’re not gonna believe what I just saw! Hia and P’Pete, they’re–”

“Yes yes child, they’re going to have a baby. I’m aware,” Ratsami chuckled at the young man standing in her doorway, all excited and out of breath. But then he froze.

“Wait, a baby? What are you talking about? I came to tell you they’re getting married! Where did a baby come from?”

Ratsami almost made a joke that surely the boy’s education had enlightened him on where babies came from. If not, she would certainly need to have a talk with her grandson-in-law about the state of the education system he had in place for the province. But then she realized the rest of what Macau had said.

“Married? They’ve only mated as far as I know.”

Macau sat down across from her and took a breath before recounting what he’d just seen and heard.

“I went to Hia’s and Phi’s chambers to see if Phi wanted to come to the training ground to see Noey in action. But when I got there, Hia was on his knees and P’Pete said ‘I’ll marry you’. Now you’re telling me I’m gonna be an uncle too? They’re working fast ! I told you that having them share the same bedchamber from the start would be the easiest way to get them to admit their feelings for each other! They’ve practically done all the matchmaking work for us! This is fantastic!”

Ratsami couldn’t help chuckling at Macau’s summation of events. His reaction was certainly a positive one.

“If what you saw is true, then we’ve got another job to do,” she informed him with a grin. When Macau just looked back at her with curiosity, Yaai laughed and continued. “As the Lord Alpha’s and the Omega Consort’s most immediate family, you and I have a wedding to plan, my dear child.”

At that, Macau’s eyes lit up like the tiny boats floating along the river during Loy Krathong .

“I love weddings!”

Chapter Text

Marriage and mating had never really been very prevalent in Vegas’ mind. For so long, he’d been focused on making sure he and Macau were able to survive their father that the idea of sharing his life with another person seemed childishly optimistic in comparison. And then, after Gun’s death, he’d been so focused on discovering and repairing all the ways the man had managed to ruin the province for his own personal gain. The notion of a mate wasn’t something he had time to entertain.

But looking at Pete knelt beside him as the abbot sprinkled holy water over them to bless their union, it was hard to imagine anything being more important.

A royal wedding would normally take months of planning but with Yaai and Macau at the helm, and with the enthusiastic support and help from everyone in the palace, they’d managed to cut that time down to just a month.

Pete had been adamant that the wedding take place before he started showing outward signs of pregnancy. Vegas had thought that was a little bit silly considering, even without the presence of a bump, anyone who even glanced at Pete could tell the man was absolutely glowing.

Or, perhaps that was just how Vegas had started seeing Pete at all times since their mating and subsequent pup revelation. He couldn’t be sure.

“Sadhu,” Pete whispered as the monk finished his blessing.

The word brought Vegas back to the present. Getting distracted during his wedding ceremony, even if it was his mate unknowingly doing the distracting, wouldn’t garner him any sympathy from the masses when he inevitably got smacked by his brother or grandmother-in-law for disrespecting said mate.

“Sadhu,” Vegas repeated with a smile.

When Pete turned towards him, Vegas’ breath went short.

It was official.

They were married.

The monk’s smile was warm as he looked at the royal couple.

“Lord Alpha Vegas, Omega Consort Pete, may your union be blessed with love and happiness all of your days.”

Vegas shifted on his knees and leaned closer to Pete. Their kiss was chaste, respectful of the temple around them and the monk overseeing the ceremony. Pete’s scent spiked gently as Vegas caressed the raised scars of the mating bite on his neck. The way he sighed into the kiss made Vegas wish they were back in the privacy of their chambers already.

But alas, the day wasn’t over yet.

***

The reception certainly breathed new life into the palace. Pete was pretty sure the entire province had turned up in celebration, not to mention their guests from many of the neighboring provinces as well. Royal weddings were always a highly anticipated event after all.

Pete wondered if he was going to be expected to remember everyone he’d met so far. His memory was usually great but he could already tell that the pup he carried was stealing his brain power like the world’s tiniest and most precious thief.

As they continued to greet their guests and receive their blessings, Vegas’ hand never left Pete’s waist. Pete liked having his mate so close, so protective over him. Before Vegas, he’d never imagined feeling so cherished by another person. He’d never imagined wanting to be cherished by another person.

But he wanted Vegas’ attention, his desire, his love. He wanted every part of him and the idea that there was a group of people still out there plotting his demise, plotting to take Vegas from him, made Pete seethe with fury. Pete didn’t know if it was the addition of the mating marks on their necks or the pup inside him, but he wasn’t going to let Vegas go. They belonged to each other now, both in the eyes of the law and the universe, and no one was going to undo that.

“ Teerak , is everything alright?”

Pete watched as Vegas’ nostrils flared and consciously tried to draw his scent back in. But the damage was already done and Vegas’ eyes were darting around the banquet hall for whatever threat had caused Pete’s scent to darken.

“I’m fine,” Pete responded, “my mind got away from me. That’s all.” Vegas knew that Pete wouldn’t take a perceived threat lightly so his husband’s response calmed his concerns. But it still worried him that Pete’s thoughts were taking dark turns on what should be a joyous day for them.

“Is there anything I can do to put your mind at ease?”

Pete shook his head with a gentle smile. He laced his fingers with Vegas’ and brought their joined hands up between them. After placing a kiss to his husband’s knuckles, he gazed into the man’s eyes.

“Being at your side is enough.”

Vegas was just about to respond when Nop walked up behind them.

“My Lord, Lord Kinn and his consort mate have arrived.”

Vegas looked up to see his cousin making his way across the banquet hall towards them. The omega on his arm was heavy with child and absolutely beautiful. The sight of him made Vegas’ mind immediately go to his own omega and how much more stunning he would become as their pup continued to grow inside him. It was hard to imagine Pete getting even more beautiful than he already was. As far as Vegas was concerned, Pete could make the very sun and moon pale in comparison to his smile.

As Kinn and his mate stepped up to the dais, Pete made a startled noise beside him.

“Ai’Porsche?”

Vegas started to turn his head towards Pete in curiosity but his cousin’s mate spoke first.

“Ai’Pete? Is that really you?”

Vegas and Kinn shared a look of confusion as their mates suddenly embraced each other like old friends.

“I almost didn’t recognize you,” Pete chuckled happily, “but your eyes are still the same as I remember.” Porsche nodded his head with a grin.

“Your smile hasn’t changed a bit. I had no idea this was your wedding! Alpha , why didn’t you tell me this was Pete’s wedding?” When he smacked the Lord Alpha of Bangkok on the chest, the man only shot him an indulgent smile.

“I didn’t exactly know the omega my cousin had taken as his consort,” Kinn sighed. Porsche merely rolled his eyes as if he didn’t believe him. Kinn turned his attention back to the newlywed couple and bowed his head. “Cousin, please allow me to introduce my mate, Omega Consort Porsche Pachara Kittisawat. Darling, this is my cousin, Vegas Kornwit Theerapanyakul, Lord Alpha of Nonthaburi.”

Vegas wai’d to the couple, amused at the brazen way Porsche regarded his cousin.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Consort Porsche. I would introduce you to my mate but it appears you already know each other?”

“Pete and I are from the same village. We were best friends growing up. My parents passed when I was young so my nong and I were sent to live with an uncle in Bangkok province.” He turned his feline gaze back to Pete and smiled. “It’s been what, fifteen years since we last saw each other?”

Pete nodded at his friend.

“At least. You haven’t changed a bit. Well,” Pete gestured at the man’s swollen stomach and laughed, “except for the obvious, of course. Congratulations.” Porsche rubbed a hand over his stomach with a chuckle.

“The same goes for you, Pete. I didn’t remember your scent being quite so smoky when we were children but after smelling your mate, it makes sense.” Pete’s hands instinctively went to his stomach, only slightly protruding from the child within.

“We haven’t announced it yet,” Pete whispered. “Only our family and the healer knows right now.”

“Well now it’s just two more family members who know,” Porsche replied in a lowered voice. “Our children will be cousins after all. And heirs to top it off. Who would have thought we’d be the ones bringing the next Theerapanyakul generation into the world?”

When Pete thought about his friend’s words, it was quite surreal. Two boys from a remote village in Nonthaburi had managed to become the mates and consorts of the two most powerful lord alphas in the country.

Before Pete could respond, Porsche suddenly hunched over with a groan of pain. Kinn was there immediately with his arm around his mate to offer support. Pete and Vegas watched as Kinn flooded the immediate vicinity with pheromones meant to soothe and calm. After a moment, Porsche raised back up and gave Kinn a gentle smile.

“I swear as soon as this pup is out of me, I’m going to pinch his adorable little cheeks for everything he’s put me through this entire pregnancy.” Porsche poked at his stomach then and spoke directly at it. “You hear me Pai? Stop being a brat in there.” Pete couldn’t help but snort at the man chastising his pup in the womb. Of course, if the child was anything like Porsche had been, the couple would have their work cut out for them.

“Pai? You’ve already picked out a name?” Pete couldn’t help wondering when he and Vegas should start thinking of names for their pup. Porsche and Kinn laughed at the question.

“Kind of but not really. It’s more of a joke between Kinn and I right now.” He stepped a little closer to whisper conspiratorially to Pete and Vegas. “For this entire pregnancy, I’ve had such terrible gas, like never before. So we’ve been sort of referring to them as ‘the wind’.”

Pete couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled up at the couple’s reasoning. But when he thought about it, it wasn’t such a bad idea.

“Prapai has a nice ring to it though. It would make a lovely name.”

Unbidden, Pete thought back to the night when his heat and Vegas’ rut had begun, to the storm that had raged outside the palace walls while Vegas had taken care of him, filled him, sated him.

What would Vegas think of the name Phayu for their pup?

As the two omegas began quietly sharing stories about their pregnancies with each other, Vegas motioned for Kinn to step to the side with him. Kinn seemed reluctant to leave his omega’s side but Vegas merely rolled his eyes. Their mates would still be within an arm’s reach.

“Yes cousin,” Kinn clipped out as he joined Vegas a few feet away, eyes still on his mate.

“There is a plot on my life,” Vegas began without preamble. His simple statement succeeded in bringing Kinn’s full attention to him. The man’s head whipped towards him.

“What are you talking about?”

“Shortly after Pete and I met, he uncovered an assassination plot meant to kill me and install Macau in my place as a puppet ruler. I brought Pete back to the palace with me so he could uncover the perpetrators.” Kinn narrowed his gaze as he shot a look back at the old friends still talking happily with each other.

“What part of revealing the would-be assassins included mating, marrying, and putting a pup in him?”

Vegas sighed in annoyance and decided not to tell Kinn that he had the order of things a little mixed.

“That wasn’t part of the plan,” he admitted. Kinn looked entirely too pleased with himself so Vegas just continued. “We didn’t mean for it to happen this way but I wouldn’t change it for anything. Pete is my mate, and he’s having my child. Which just means that I’m going to do everything in my power to keep them both safe.”

Kinn seemed thoughtful for a moment before he huffed.

“Just after your ascension, we heard whispers of dissent. But it was mostly among the aristocracy. They had a problem because you didn’t take bribes like your father had done. I had Tankhun keep an ear out for anything serious but when Nonthaburi began flourishing again under your reign, it didn’t seem like such a pressing issue any longer. I didn’t think they would actually make plans to have you taken out.”

Vegas had of course known that the wealthier members of his court were unhappy with his rulings. But they were outnumbered by the common folk ten to one and it was the common folk who were the backbone of Nonthaburi. Vegas saw it as his duty to ensure they were properly taken care of as his loyal subjects.

“Pete is working tirelessly to uncover everyone behind the plot but, should they succeed before he’s able to, I need you to promise me that you will protect our family. Macau has already agreed to name the pup as his heir. And they’ve got another thing coming if they think he’ll be easily manipulated to do whatever they want. But I need to make sure that Pete and the pup will be safe if I’m gone. And Yaai too. Where Pete goes, she goes.”

“Vegas, I highly doubt–”

“ Promise me Kinn, ” Vegas growled, his fingers curling into his cousin’s sleeve. “Keep the four of them safe if I’m unable to do so. Keep our family safe.”

The urgency in Vegas’ voice brought Kinn up short. He’d never seen or heard his cousin like that. But he knew that if he’d been in the same position, and it was Porsche and their child in need of protection, he would ask the same of Vegas.

“I promise,” he agreed easily. “Your family is my family, cousin. And we protect our own.”

***

Vegas and Pete both narrowed their eyes as Yaai and Macau stood before them and bowed low. The wedding and banquet ceremonies had gone off without incident and Pete wanted nothing more than to collapse into their nest with his new husband wrapped around him. He didn’t know what more their menaces of family members could have planned for them but he didn’t like the matching looks of mischief in their eyes.

“What are you two up to now?” Vegas questioned, open suspicion in his tone as he regarded his younger brother and grandmother-in-law. Macau chuckled with a roll of his eyes.

“Hia, it’s like you don’t trust us at all. I’m hurt.” The young man placed an over dramatic hand to his chest. “And after Yaai and I worked so hard to make sure your wedding day was absolutely perfect. So ungrateful.”

Yaai tsk ed in reproach but there was no heat behind it. Vegas ducked his head in apology but Pete seemed to be immune.

“Oh please, don’t act all innocent. Why do you both look like you’ve got something up your sleeves? The day is over now, what else could you two possibly have planned?”

Yaai grinned at that and leaned closer to whisper.

“In my day, a wedding day wasn’t over until the bedding ceremony had taken place to ensure the marriage was consummated.” She shot a pointed look at Pete’s softened abdomen and chuckled. “Not that that’s necessary for you two now but your subjects don’t know that yet. So we’ve arranged a procession of sorts.” As she said the words, the two newlyweds noticed at the same time that many of the people in the banquet hall had begun filtering out while Yaai and Macau had been speaking with them. “It won’t be a traditional bedding ceremony as no one will be present in your chambers–”

“I should hope not,” Vegas interrupted.

“But this will allow the people to see you both beforehand and offer their blessings and support,” Macau continued as if his brother hadn’t cut the woman off.

Vegas looked to Pete for any signs of discomfort.

“Are you okay with this? Just say the word if you aren’t.”

Pete’s nose twitched as he thought it over. He’d never really cared for bedding ceremonies. It always seemed like such an invasion of the couple’s privacy. But if theirs was to be more of a procession and receiving of the peoples’ blessings, perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad.

“Our nest and our chambers are ours ,” Pete said, tone brooking no argument, as if Vegas would have argued that point, “so as long as that remains unchanged, I’m fine with whatever they have planned.”

Vegas couldn’t help smiling at his mate, at his husband , and thanking the universe for putting them in each other’s path. No matter what was thrown their way, they would face it head-on and, most importantly, together.

He held his hand out towards Pete, pleased when Pete instantly laced their fingers together.

“Shall we retire for the evening then, husband?”

Pete’s eyes went glassy for a moment before he cleared his throat and nodded his head.

“I like the sound of that.”

They followed Macau and Yaai to the doors of the banquet hall. When the guards opened the doors, Pete let out a soft gasp. The palace hallway was lined with their subjects, hands full of various flowers and malai song chai to drape them with. The lines stretched all the way down the hallway and Pete suspected that it only ended at their chamber doors.

To the couple, it was more than merely a procession in celebration of their wedding. It was an outward showing of the support and love the people of Nonthaburi felt for both their Lord Alpha and his Omega Consort. The stability their marriage promised everyone, not just the reign of Theerapanyakul family, wouldn’t be so easily threatened. The people wouldn’t willingly submit to the rule of a tyrant. Not when they’d only just begun to prosper under the leadership of a royal couple who truly wanted the best for their people.

Vegas and Pete both hoped the traitors saw this show of support for the threat it was.

By the time they made it to the entrance of their chambers, the two men were laden with more beautiful garlands than they could count between them.

Despite the weight of the flowers draped around his neck and shoulders, Pete felt light as a feather when he looked over at Vegas.

This man was his mate, his alpha, the father of the pup growing inside him, and now his husband. And anyone who threatened their family, Pete would rend asunder without a second thought.

Vegas met Pete’s gaze and pulled him closer. The action was met with cheers from the gathered crowd. Since only Yaai and Macau had been present in the temple as the familial witnesses for their actual wedding ceremony, and their reception had been quite busy with having to attend to their guests, many of the people present had yet to really see the royal couple express much physical affection throughout the day. When Vegas pressed his fingers into the side of Pete’s neck, covering his mark with his palm and holding him close, Pete’s scent sweetened in contentment.

“ Omega ,” Vegas whispered, pulling Pete’s face closer, uncaring of the audience watching them with rapt attention.

“ Alpha ,” came Pete’s breathless reply.

More cheers went up as Vegas captured Pete’s lips in a heated kiss, full of all the possessiveness he’d been feeling throughout the day. He’d already claimed Pete as his mate, true, but making such a public display somehow for their subjects to see carried a different weight to it.

When the guards opened the chamber doors for them, Vegas wasted no time tugging Pete into their rooms, eager to have the man all to himself once more after a day of having to share his attention with their people.

Pete sighed into his kiss as the doors closed behind them. Vegas’ fingers hadn’t left his neck and for that, he was grateful. The touch of his mate, now also his husband, kept him somewhat grounded. When Vegas’ free hand settled on his abdomen, Pete let out a soft gasp.

“Pete,” Vegas whispered against his lips, “no matter what happens, I’m not going to let anything happen to you or our family. You are the most important person in my life and I vow that I will keep you and our pup safe.”

The reminder of the threat to Vegas’ life caused a growl to rumble from Pete’s throat. With a determined set to his jaw, Pete placed his palm on Vegas’ mating bite, mirroring his mate’s stance.

“My vow is the same. No harm shall come to you or our loved ones so long as there is breath in my lungs. If my heart is still beating, it is with your name as its rhythm.”

Pete didn’t waste anymore time pulling Vegas through their chambers and into their bedroom. He’d painstakingly remade their nest that morning after they’d awakened, before leaving for their temple ceremony. He wanted the first nest they shared as husbands to be special, symbolic of the promise they’d made to each other, the vows they’d taken.

Vegas stripped him of his garments with care, with devotion in each movement that exposed his skin to the air. Kneeling before him, Vegas placed reverent kisses to Pete’s wrists, his thighs, his hips, his stomach. He leaned into Pete’s touch when the man cupped his face in his hand, looking down at him with that same reverence and devotion shining in his eyes.

“Take me to bed, alpha .”

Vegas effortlessly deposited Pete into their nest, sliding up his body with a sensual grace that had Pete’s breath moving faster in his lungs. Vegas dragged his lips across every bit of Pete’s skin within reach. When he sucked at the raised scar of the mating bite on his neck, Pete grabbed at the back of his head to hold him in place just a little longer. As Pete’s sweet scent began to cloud his senses, Vegas took a long inhale directly from the source.

“You don’t even know how perfect you are,” Vegas whispered against Pete’s flushed skin. “Such a perfect omega for me, all mine.” His statement ended with a possessive growl that had Pete whimpering beneath him.

“Alpha is mine ,” he replied, a determined edge coloring his voice.

Pete’s body decided to punctuate his statement with a rush of slick. Vegas’ eyes went black with lust, irises entirely overtaken by his pupils in a split second. Vegas reached down and ran his finger around the rim of Pete’s opening, gathering the nectar there before bringing it up to his tongue. The sight made Pete hiss through his teeth with impatience, his grappling at Vegas’ hips in an attempt to pull his body closer to where it belonged.

“What’s the hurry, teerak ?” Vegas playfully taunted his husband. “We’ve got the rest of our lives, and all of our lives after that.”

Pete’s eyes narrowed in the split second before his hand closed around the base of Vegas’ cock, around his knot already swelling in anticipation. Vegas let out a wanton moan that made Pete’s mouth curl into a familiar feral grin.

“You would deny me this, dear Alpha?”

Vegas breathed deep as Pete intentionally released pheromones meant to drive him wild with desire.

“I would deny you nothing within my power,” he replied. Pete looked quite pleased with himself as Vegas struggled to maintain his composure before continuing. “But delayed gratification is hardly the same as denial.”

Pete rolled his eyes at the man’s feeble excuse for why their bodies were not yet joined. He could appeal to Vegas’ baser instincts, play the demure omega in desperate need of their alpha’s knot, in order to get what he wanted. But the memory of their shared cycle, of flipping Vegas and sinking down on him with ease, of riding him while looking down at his beautiful face full of lust and pride in equal measure, that memory was etched into his bloodstream.

“Delay this ,” Pete breathed out as he used his core strength to roll their positions. Vegas landed flat on his back with a smug grin, as if Pete’s actions were entirely expected. Pete gasped lightly as he realized he’d played right into his husband’s hands. But he didn’t feel like dwelling on that at the moment because the man’s cock was now much closer to where he wanted it.

Vegas reached down and helpfully held himself still so Pete’s body could surround him with that now familiar heat and pressure. Pete’s hands came to rest on Vegas’ chest to hold himself upright and give him leverage to move. He didn’t begin to ride Vegas with a wild abandon though, no. His hips moved like gentle waves at the edge of a lake, undulating without any real hurry. His prior urgency seemed to be forgotten, abated simply by having Vegas seated inside him. The bliss on his face was truly a sight to behold.

Pete’s eyes flew open when Vegas’ hands began to caress his stomach. Their pup was beneath those hands. 

“Vegas,” Pete whispered, afraid to break the spell that had fallen over the man even as his body continued to rise and fall. Vegas’ eyes shifted from Pete’s abdomen to his face and Pete saw the happy smile there.

“I love you Pete.”

The words were said with such care, such devotion, Pete didn’t even need his nose to know the truth of them.

He nodded as tears spilled over onto his cheeks, already feeling the man’s knot starting to catch on his rim. With one last downward push of his body, Pete cried out as Vegas’ knot caught inside and began to fill him. Pete leaned down to press their lips together, uncaring that his own climax was still sitting on the edge of that cliff, holding off for some reason. It didn’t matter. Vegas would take care of him.

Like he’d said before, they had the rest of their lives.

“Vegas,” Pete breathed his name like a prayer against the lips of the very deity he was exalting, “I love you too.”

As the words left his mouth, his own orgasm rushed through him. His body clenched around Vegas’ still-pulsing member, locking them even more securely together.

Pete collapsed against Vegas’ chest, unable to hide the bright smile on his face as the man’s arms closed around his shoulders. Pete had never felt safer.

And anyone seeking to destroy that safety? Pete would send them to an afterlife worse than death.

Chapter Text

Pete awakened to the sensation of Vegas’ lips against his mating bite. That had become quite the regular occurrence over the past two months since their wedding. The arms circling his waist were also a regular occurrence, curled protectively over the bump that held their baby, their pup.

In the days following the wedding, a dark voice in the back of Pete’s mind would whisper to him that the pup was the only reason for Vegas’ affections. That it was a known fact that alphas were often more attentive to their pregnant mates because it was a sign of their virility, their power.

Pete’s omega instincts liked to hiss back at that voice that Vegas had been the one to insist they share their cycles, that Vegas had been the one to claim him in the throes of passion and had made no mention of desiring to undo that action, that the child was not the root of Vegas’ feelings for him.

Pete moaned softly as Vegas tightened his hold on him, the motion successfully reminding him of the manner in which they’d fallen asleep the night before.

With Vegas’ knot locked securely inside him from behind.

Though his knot had gone down in their sleep, their close positioning had prevented Vegas’ cock from slipping free in the night, like Vegas’ body had made a home within Pete. And Pete couldn’t help loving that, knowing that he was home for his mate.

“Can we pretend to be sick and stay in bed the rest of the day?”

Pete chuffed a laugh at Vegas’ sleep-gravelled voice as it vibrated against his mating bite.

“That would be quite irresponsible, my dear alpha,” Pete replied, leaning into Vegas’ embrace as the words left his mouth. “We both have duties to attend to after all.”

Pete sighed as his husband trailed his nose along the shell of his ear before sucking the lobe into his mouth.

“One could argue that an alpha’s most important duty is to their omega, is it not?” Vegas tried to reason. As if to punctuate his excuse, Vegas tugged Pete backwards. Pete could instantly feel that Vegas’ cock was steadily waking up with the rest of him.

Still, Pete shook his head.

“But my teerak isn’t just any alpha,” Pete whispered as he turned his head into Vegas’ seeking mouth. “He is the Lord Alpha of Nonthaburi, and his duty is to his people.”

Vegas grinned against Pete’s cheek, like he’d won some battle of wits. As he ran his thumb across Pete’s bottom lip, he gave a shallow thrust of his hips that had Pete moaning out loud in the quiet morning air of their bedchamber.

“Would you not agree that the Omega Consort is among the highest of the Lord Alpha’s people, my love? And as such, according to your own definition of my duties, that would make you the most important of all.”

Even if Pete’s mind had allowed him to think of a retort, he wouldn’t have had the time to vocalize it before Vegas swept into his mouth with tongue and teeth, all-encompassing. His thoughts went fuzzy around the edges as he sank further into his mate’s kiss and embrace. Vegas’ caress was always a subdued frenzy, like his control was teetering on the brink and barely kept in check through sheer force of will. It never failed to make Pete feel desired, body and soul, like his mate couldn’t get enough of him.

“Wish I could claim you again,” Vegas whispered as his teeth scraped against the raised scar of Pete’s mating bite. “I would claim you every day if I could, until you were covered in my marks.” Pete reached back to hold Vegas’ head in place against his neck, against the bite he wanted to refresh needlessly. Pete would have gladly worn whatever marks his mate bestowed upon him, whatever claim he desired to lay, whatever made it that much clearer just who he belonged to.
Pete gasped in reply as Vegas tugged his leg up so he could get deeper inside him. The slick he produced in response flooded the room with their combined scent, like their bodies needed to make it more obvious to any potential passersby just what was happening behind closed doors.

When Vegas’ knot finally caught hold, Pete cried out as his own release rushed through him, tiny pinpricks of absolute bliss erupting across his skin emanating from where their bodies were locked together.

Vegas made a curious noise as a giggle suddenly erupted from Pete’s lips.

“If we’d pretended to be sick, Healer Arm would have been called to check on the pup and we wouldn’t have gotten to do this.”

Vegas chuckled in response before placing numerous sniff kisses to Pete’s cheek.

“It’s a fortunate thing my dear mate was so smart as to remind me of my duties then, isn’t it?”

Pete sank back into Vegas’ arms, content to wait out his knot’s release in the man’s arms. It wasn’t like their duties were going anywhere anytime soon.

***

“Consort Pete,” Noey, his personal guard, knocked on his office door before sticking her head in. Pete looked up from the purloined correspondence in his hands. “P’Ohm has brought Nong Moowan for a visit.” The woman’s voice was clear, ringing out in the hallway for anyone who might be eavesdropping on the visitors coming and going from the Omega Consort’s offices.

Moowan was Praew and Ohm’s pup, most often found in his mother’s selendang as she worked in the palace kitchens. On the occasion that Praew or Ohm had information to share with Pete, they would use the pup as an excuse for visiting with the Omega Consort since he was about halfway through his own pregnancy and enjoyed playing with the toddler in order to ready himself for parenthood. Moowan, like most other children who came into contact with Pete, appeared to be enamored with the omega. He always gave the Omega Consort his brightest of smiles.

The baby squealed as his father brought him into the office. In the course of his pregnancy, Pete had learned that the scent of a pregnant omega often brought comfort to pups because it meant safety.

“Consort Pete,” Ohm greeted, bouncing the giggling child in his arms, “I hope this visit finds you well. I know Moowan has been looking forward to it all morning.”

Pete chuckled as the baby’s father held him out to take.

“I think he just likes going on adventures with his papa. Gives him a break from all the kitchen aunties pinching his cheeks.” Pete grinned down at the child in his arms. “Isn’t that right, Moowan? You just like seeing the rest of the palace with your papa.” In reply, Moowan let out a peal of laughter and waved his arms around.

“You’re too modest, Consort Pete. The moment Praew mentioned your name this morning, he started looking for you around every corner. I dare say you might be his favorite person.”

Pete couldn’t help hoping that that would bode well for his own pup’s feelings towards him. He wanted to be a source of comfort and safety for his child, something his own father had spectacularly failed at.

He tucked his head close to the baby, placing sniff kisses all along his chubby cheeks, and whispered conspiratorially to him, “Don’t let Lord Vegas find that out. He’ll be terribly jealous.”

Moowan just giggled in reply.

Ohm shifted in his seat at the mention of the lord alpha and cleared his throat. Pete eyed the young father, waiting for whatever news he’d brought under the guise of visiting with his son.

“The other day, I was called upon by Khun Napapon to create a new khrui for him and his son.”

Pete’s eyes narrowed. The only reason Khun Napapon would need such a garment made would be to wear to an official royal celebration. And even in the event of such a celebration, he would need royal permission, from the Lord Alpha no less, to wear such a garment. Khrui were worn for auspicious occasions, such as coronations.

“Interesting,” Pete replied, “and did he happen to mention what he and Tawan plan to be celebrating? I’m sure I would have remembered if the Lord Alpha had granted their family special dispensation for such an event.”

Ohm shook his head.

“He neglected to say. But he impressed that no expense be spared in the quality of cloth and adornments used. That it was to be fitting of someone of his impending status.”

At that, Pete’s eyebrows rose into his hairline.

“That’s a bold request. But the man’s misplaced aspirations are hardly concrete enough to accuse him of treason. And I know you wouldn’t have come to me without something more substantial.”

Ohm chuckled darkly, a sound that had the baby in Pete’s arms directing an inquisitive noise at his father.

“Tawan has grown overconfident in his father’s machinations. This has caused him to get…forgetful about where he leaves his correspondence.” Ohm reached into the pouch at his waist and pulled out a piece of parchment. “Imagine my shock when I realized this must have fallen into my satchel by mistake.”

Pete took the proffered letter from the man and opened it to see what the scheming omega had written.

At first glance, the letter seemed to be full of the usual bluster of someone who had a high opinion of themself, something Pete was quite accustomed to in reading any correspondence that came from that particular household. But then he got into the meat of the letter and his breath went short.

I’m sure you understand the importance of changing the course of the plan at this time. With the addition of the Omega Consort to the royal family, and the Theerapanyakul heir he now carries, we have reason to believe that the Lord Macau would be much harder to control were the throne to fall to him. Not to mention the fact that, if left alive, the Consort could claim regent status on behalf of the Lord Alpha’s pup. As such, my father and the Collective have made the strategic decision that all members of the Nonthaburi Theerapanyakul branch be taken out, including Khun Yaai Ratsami. Whispers among the commoners suggest they could be convinced to rally behind her in a potential retaliatory claim to the throne, despite her status as a beta.

With your continued support, my father would be free to claim the throne through his close ties and friendship with the late Lord Alpha Gun and restore the proper hierarchy to the region wrought low by the heirs in control.

Pete stopped reading and tossed the letter across the surface of his desk as though it had burned him.

It was no longer enough that these people, this Collective, wanted to kill Vegas and install Macau as a puppet ruler. It was almost funny that it had taken them so long to realize that Macau wouldn’t be easily manipulated. Everything the young lord knew about ruling, he’d learned from Vegas. Pete could have told them that within a few days of meeting the brothers. No, now they wanted to kill them all, even Yaai, to ensure that nobody could challenge them.

Pete’s stomach roiled and it had nothing to do with his pregnancy.

Moowan cooed in his arms before reaching up to lightly pat his cheek with his tiny hand. Pete smiled softly at the child, nuzzling into the little tuft of hair atop his head. He couldn’t wait to hold his own pup in his arms and be able to do the same.

But in order to do that, he would have to rid the region of those that sought to end not only his mate’s life but their entire family as well.

“Consort Pete?” Ohm’s concern had him looking back up, remembering the man’s presence. “Surely this information is enough to bring charges of treason against Khun Napapon and Tawan.”

Pete gave a sigh of resignation.

“If it were only the two of them, this matter would have already been decided. Of course it wouldn’t be that simple. This group, the Collective they call themselves, must all be brought to light. I need everyone involved in this plot, and I need evidence like this letter in order for the Lord Alpha to bring them to justice.” Pete suddenly remembered just how the letter in question had come into Ohm possession and had an idea. His face brightened. “Get word to the other tailors working in the households of the noble families, specifically the families we already know stand to benefit the most should Khun Napapon come into power, and make sure they’re on the lookout for correspondence like this. We can’t risk letting any member of this would-be coup slip through the cracks.”

Ohm nodded gravely in agreement.

“Praew and Mae Yaai Erika have the various household staffs and guards covered. The tailors also talk to the merchants outside the palace gates to verify information. With the network you’ve cultivated, Consort Pete, I’m sure we’ll be able to compile an empirical list of the traitors involved.”

Pete’s eyes landed on the incriminating letter as Moowan made a fussy noise in his arms. While the child was still far too young to grasp what Pete and his father had discussed, his nose could already pick up on the distressed pheromones the adults had been subconsciously releasing into the room.

“I’m sorry pup,” Pete sighed, “that scent isn’t very nice for you, is it? Here, I’ll fix it.” Pete quickly released more calming pheromones to ease the child’s mood, a more concentrated version of his own citrusy scent. As a result, Moowan’s eyelids began to droop.

“It’s getting close to time for his afternoon nap anyway,” Ohm whispered. “He’ll be wanting Praew in a few moments.”

Pete understood the young father’s meaning and deftly maneuvered the child back into his papa’s arms. The idea that, in only a few more months’ time, he would have his own pup to dote on filled him with such joy.

But only if they were able to neutralize the threat to all of their lives beforehand.

Vegas smelled Pete before the office door even opened. The scent of his mate never failed to bring a smile to his face. He couldn’t really remember paying much attention to other people’s scents before Pete came into his life. But now that he had Pete, every smell that touched his senses was immediately compared to that of his mate and found wanting.

Nothing could hold a candle to his Pete.

When Pete appeared in the doorway, a sheaf of parchment clutched to his chest just above his protruding stomach, a warm smile curled at Vegas’ lips. The vision of his mate and the proof of their mating never failed to bring him an untold delight he never thought he’d get to feel in his lifetime.

“Teerak, let me help you with those,” Vegas spoke, rushing to his feet to assist the omega with his load. Pete allowed Vegas to take the stack from his hands but made a startled noise when Vegas immediately discarded it on his desk top in favor of stepping into Pete’s arms. He tucked his face into Pete’s neck, nosing at his mating bite to take in the man’s scent directly from the source, and gave a sigh of contentment.

“I have some news,” Pete whispered, hesitant to break his husband’s bubble of happiness. The seriousness in his voice made Vegas lift his head to meet his gaze.

“Good news, I hope?”

Pete’s eyes flickered to the documents he’d brought with him and back.

“I hope so too.”

The man’s intentionally vague statement made Vegas grab the piece of parchment on top of the stack and begin to read. Immediately, he recognized the names of some members of a few of the noble families, namely ones who had expressed their discontent over a number of policies implemented early in Vegas’ reign. The top two names were expected of course, Khun Napapon and Tawan.

“The Collective, I presume?”

Pete nodded his head.

“Over the past three weeks, they’ve gotten sloppy. The spies I was able to place within their households have all reported back with consistent information and documentation to back it up. They seem to be quite sure of their success and as such, discretion has fallen by the wayside with the majority of them. It’s made gathering evidence against them much easier though.”

Vegas quickly read through the rest of the papers Pete had brought and it was clear what needed to be done. When he met his mate’s eyes once more, Pete nodded in understanding.

“It won’t be enough just to arrest them,” Vegas replied. “If our family is to ever be truly safe, the entire group will need to be put to death, immediately.” Vegas pulled Pete closer, placing a protective hand over the man’s stomach. Beneath his hand, there was the tiniest of nudges from the pup within, as if in agreement from the womb. Pete gasped softly in response and it cemented Vegas’ choice in his mind. “There is nothing in this world I wouldn’t do to protect you and our family. You are everything to me, Pete. When I’m finished with them, no one will dare to threaten us again.”

Pete took Vegas’ hands in his and lifted them to his lips. When he raised his eyes to his once again, they held that familiar, beautiful, steely determination Vegas loved with every fiber of his being.

“When we’re finished with them,” Pete corrected. They would face this, like everything else, together.

And the traitors wouldn’t stand a chance.

Chapter Text

Pete took a deep breath as his hand came to rest at the top of his protruding stomach. Seated at Vegas’ right, in his place as Omega Consort, Pete felt the weight of everything they’d been working towards for so many months finally coming to fruition.

The promise of safety for his pup and their family tasted sweet on the tip of his tongue. They just had to deal with the traitors first.

A commotion in the hall outside the throne room brought Pete out of his thoughts. One look at the determined set to his mate’s jawline told him everything he needed to know. They wouldn’t need to be worried about these people any longer after tonight.

“Teerak,” Pete whispered as he brought Vegas’ hand up to his lips. When Vegas turned to face him, his face instantly softened. “It’s almost over.”

In response, Vegas slid from his seat to kneel at his mate’s feet. His forehead pressed gently against Pete’s abdomen, causing the pup within to push out. Pete cupped Vegas’ face in his hand, staring down at the man as all the love and affection in his being welled behind his eyes.

“And once it is,” Vegas started, “we can truly begin our lives anew.”

He pressed his lips against Pete’s palm as the doors to the throne room were thrown open. The noise level rose in an instant as Macau strode in, flanked by the twin guards, Nop and Non. Behind them, a retinue of guards surrounded a small group of men. With their arrival came that sickly scent of decay that made Pete’s nose curl in disgust. Pregnancy had only made his nose more sensitive but especially to that particular smell.

Something that had surprised Pete when he’d been gathering evidence against them was just how few of them were actually involved in the actual planning and execution of the coup. Their letters to each other always made the Collective sound like this large group of disgruntled aristocrats who had the advantage of numbers on their side. But when it came down to it, there were only truly eight people involved.

Pete watched as the eight traitors were brought before them, forced to their knees by the guards behind them, and couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face. Napapon and Tawan were at the center of the lineup, the two who stood to gain the most power from the success of their now-failed coup, looked furious.

That’s good, Pete thought to himself. He was furious as well. But while their rage was fueled by greed and being caught out, Pete’s was fueled by the desire to put an end to those who would wish suffering on those he loved dearest.

And Pete knew for certain that his rage would be the one to burn brighter.

“Lord Vegas,” Napapon bellowed, “what is the meaning of this?”

Silent, as quiet as death, Vegas began placing pieces of parchment in front of each man. Pete chuckled lowly to himself as each one in turn went pale with the recognition of their own treasonous words staring back at them. The incriminating letters they’d traded back and forth had left such an easy breadcrumb trail to follow, and Pete had lapped up each and every one.

With a devastated cry, one man on the end suddenly prostrated himself before Vegas.

“Mercy! I beg mercy from my true Lord Alpha! Please think of my family! It was Khun Napapon’s idea all along! He tricked us all to support him in claiming the throne. We didn’t truly want to betray you my Lord! Please have mercy!”

At the man’s pleading, a few of the others began to do the same, somehow thinking it would soften the blow of their planned coup and assassination, their treason.

Vegas remained silent throughout the bulk of their pleas, allowing them to go on for a few minutes until he grew bored. After a glance towards his mate, their voices joined as one.

“Silence!”

The single word echoed through the throne room, over the sobbing voices of the perpetrators, quieting their cries with the simple command.

Vegas smiled wide at the man who had first started to beg, squatted in front of him and forced his eyes up.

“You asked for mercy, that I consider your families. And to that I say, of course I’ll consider your families.” Pete watched as the man started to breathe a sigh of relief. Vegas chuckled darkly and continued, choking off that sigh with his next words. “I will consider your families in the same manner you’ve all considered mine.”

Vegas’ daab was drawn across the man’s throat the second the meaning of his words connected in his mind.

Macau stepped up to the man at the opposite end of the line, disposing of him in the same manner.

The brothers moved in tandem until the only ones left were Napapon and Tawan. Tawan had resumed begging for his life the moment the men next to him had begun choking on their own blood. Napapon merely looked on with a baleful glare. As Vegas came to stand in front of him, the man spat at his feet.

“No matter what you do boy, no matter how you rule, you’ll never be the kind of Lord Alpha your father was!”

At one time in his life, Vegas knew those words would have cut him deeper than any knife.

But times had certainly changed.

Vegas barked out a maniacal laugh that startled the older man. With the tip of his daab, he forced Napapon’s face towards his son just as Macau let his lifeless body slump to the ground.

“Sweet words won’t save you now,” Vegas whispered.

Vegas raised his arm as the fear finally began to show in the man’s eyes. But before his blade could make contact, there was a gentle touch at his elbow that staid his hand. When Vegas looked, Pete was standing beside him with a soft smile on his face.

“My love,” Pete’s voice flowed over him like cool waters. When Pete took his daab from him, the gentle smile took on a more predatory gleam. Vegas loved all of Pete’s smiles, of course, but that smile, that absolutely feral grin of his, spoke to something ancient inside of him.

Pete motioned for the guards holding Napapon to stand him up. His eyes, still fearful, looked down at Pete with unfiltered disdain. That was to be expected though. After all, Pete had been instrumental in the orchestration of their demise.

Napapon opened his mouth to speak but no words came. For in the same breath, Pete buried the daab into the flesh of his stomach.

“This is for Yaai,” Pete whispered in the man’s ear as he doubled over. Pete quickly stabbed him anew, whispering over the man’s pained noises, “and this is for Nong Macau.” A flash of bloodstained metal was all that was seen as the blade disappeared into his body once again. “This is for my pup.” Pete turned and met Vegas’ eyes for a second, long enough to see the man nod his approval, and then let his grin spread wider across his face. He pushed his fingers into Napapon’s hair and yanked his head back up at an odd angle. Pete rested the blade against the man’s exposed throat and leaned in close, staring directly into his putrid soul as he growled. “And this, this is for my mate.”

The guard released his hold to let the man fall at Pete’s feet. The pool of blood from his wounds quickly grew to join the one made by his son. It was fitting, Pete thought, that the two should be together in death since they were together in the circumstances that had brought about their death.

Vegas pulled Pete to him with a desperate need buzzing beneath his skin. As their lips closed the space between them, they sighed into each other’s kiss. Their combined scent flooded the room, overpowering the tang of copper in the air with that smoky citrus smell that brought them both comfort and peace. Neither one cared about the blood on their hands, on their clothes, all around them. The only thing that truly mattered was getting as close as physically possible, reminding each other of the bond that connected them. And though they couldn’t get as close as they both truly desired, being able to lose themselves, even just slightly, in the taste of each other was enough for the time being.

There were still some loose ends that would need to be tied up to make absolutely certain it was over but…the Collective was gone! The immediate danger had been eliminated. For the first time since Vegas’ ascension, since meeting Pete, since their mating and marriage, they were all safe.

The pair broke apart as the younger alpha sidled up next to them, wrapping them both in his arms, happy laughter bubbling out of him as his brothers returned his embrace.

Word would spread of how they’d stood as one and stamped out those who would have done them harm. The Lord Alpha and Omega Consort of Nonthaburi would not take threats lightly and their justice would be decisive, immediate. Their pack, and their people, would be under the fiercest of protection.

And no one would dare to stand against them again.